The Dow Jones today is already up 110 points in pre-market hours after Fed Chair Janet Yellen announced she will resign as a Fed governor after she's replaced as chair.
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The Five Top Stock Market Stories for Tuesday
The U.S. Federal Reserve is back in focus after Janet Yellen formally submitted her resignation letter to President Donald Trump. The Fed chair said Monday that she plans to depart the U.S. central bank as soon as Jerome Powell is sworn in to replace her. Her resignation comes after some speculation that Yellen may have chosen to remain as a governor at the central bank and hold a vote on U.S. monetary policy, although that move would have been unprecedented. Yellen's term as a Fed governor would not have expired until 2024. Fed Gov. Powell recently received the nomination from President Trump to take over as chair in early 2018.
Brick-and-mortar retailers are pulling out all the stops to get foot traffic into stores ahead of Black Friday. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will throw 20,000 in-store parties over the next six weeks. Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) is hosting pop-up stores in New York, and JCPenney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is going to give customers up to $500 just to walk in the door on Thanksgiving. But what are markets going to do as we head into the Holiday season? That's a question regularly received by America's top pattern trader and the editor of Power Profit Trades. If you're looking to make fast money from the trends surrounding retail right now, check out Tom's trades right here.
In deal news, the U.S. Department of Justice is moving to shut down a mega-merger between AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX). The $85 billion deal is on the rocks and is set to become the largest antitrust case to move through Washington in several decades. Shares of T stock were up slightly in pre-market hours, while TWX stock also showed some small gains.
Will anything slow down the price of Bitcoin? On Tuesday evening, the price of Bitcoin topped $8,200, a figure that represents a 735% surge in 2017. The price is also up nearly 100% since JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon called the cryptocurrency a fraud and predicted that the sector would "end badly." The price continues to rally on news that the first LedgerX futures contract set a strike price of $10,000, and Standpoint Research analyst Ronnie Moas hiked his 2018 price forecast from $11,000 to $14,000. Here's more on what drove Bitcoin prices higher Monday.
Shares of Lowe's Cos. (NYSE: LOW) topped third-quarter earnings expectations. The firm reported stronger-than-expected same-store sales thanks to a big jump in hurricane-related purchases during the summer months. Wall Street anticipated that the home retailer will report earnings per share (EPS) of $1.02 on top of $16.56 billion in revenue. Lowe's reported EPS of $1.05 on top of $16.77 billion in revenue.
In other earnings news, shares of Palo Alto Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: PANW) added another 6% after the bell Monday. The cybersecurity giant easily topped Wall Street earnings and revenue expectations, increased its forward guidance for the fourth quarter, and hiked its full-year outlook.
TransCanada Corp. (USA) (NYSE: TRP) is generating headlines after Nebraska regulators announced the approval for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The approval comes just days after a key portion of the northern end of the pipeline had to be shut down after a 5,000-barrel leak occurred in South Dakota. Shares of TRP stock are up slightly in pre-market hours.
Keep an eye out for additional results from Hewlett-Packard Inc. (NYSE: HPQ), Dollar Tree Inc. (Nasdaq: DLTR), Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB), SeaDrill Ltd. (Nasdaq: SDRL), DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW), Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL), Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES), Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI), Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM), and Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores Inc. (Nasdaq: CBRL).
Tuesday's U.S. Economic Calendar (all times EST)
Chicago Fed National Activity Index at 8:30 a.m.
Redbook at 8:55 a.m.
Existing Home Sales at 10 a.m.
Four-Week Bill Auction at 11:30 a.m.
Two-Year FRN Note Auction at 11:30 a.m.
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Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, consultant, and political risk analyst with decades of trading experience and degrees in economics, cybersecurity, and business from Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Indiana University, and Northwestern.