Dow futures popped nearly 200 points as investors cheered a major announcement by an American tech giant to repatriate roughly $67 billion in offshore profits.
Here are the numbers from Wednesday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
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The Five Top Stock Market Stories for Thursday
Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) announced that is bringing the $67 billion it has offshore back to the United States. The company has said that it will return a large amount of that money to its shareholders through buybacks and higher dividends. Shares of CSCO stock surged nearly 7.5% this morning.
Yesterday, several of Wall Street's biggest heavyweights updated investors on their positions in the markets. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) took a $358 million stake in pharma giant Teva Pharmaceutical Ltd. (ADR)(NYSE: TEVA). Meanwhile, Buffett's firm has dumped nearly its entire stake (35 million out of 37 million shares) in International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM). IBM stock was still up 0.6% in pre-market hours.
Crude oil prices continued to slide on news of rising U.S. production and larger American stockpiles. According to the Energy Information Administration, U.S. crude production hit a record 10.27 million barrels per day. The EIA now expects that U.S. production will top 11 million barrels per day by the end of 2018. Meanwhile, U.S. inventory levels increased by 1.8 million barrels last week, topping analysts' expectations. The WTI crude oil price today dipped 0.1%. Brent crude slipped 0.6%.
Gold prices dipped again Thursday despite news that the U.S. dollar hit a two-week low. As of this morning, gold is back above $1,355 per ounce. Money Morning Resource Specialist Peter Krauth has projected that gold will hit $1,400 by the end of Q2. But his year-end 2018 forecast is even higher. To see where Peter sees gold heading this year - and how to invest - read his latest insight
The price of Litecoin added another 11% ahead of its pending hard fork scheduled for Feb. 15. A new cryptocurrency called "Litecoin Cash" will spin off from the Litecoin blockchain next week. But many questions remain unresolved about this new crypto coin and its future. The most important question: "Is Litecoin Cash a scam?" We answer that question, right here.
Three Stocks to Watch Today: AMZN, WM, AAPL
Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) is now the largest single holding of Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Buffett's firm allocated more money to purchase Apple stock in the fourth quarter. AAPL stock was up 1.2% this morning on news that Berkshire increased its AAPL position by 23%, according to SEC filings.
Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) is making its latest move into small business lending. The e-commerce giant announced a new partnership with Bank of America Corp.'s (NYSE: BAC) lending platform for firms selling products in its marketplace. The news comes on the same day that AMZN surpassed Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) to become the third-largest public company in the United States.
Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM) added 3.6% after the firm topped Wall Street earnings and revenue expectations. The firm reported earnings per share of $0.85, a figure that beat expectations by $0.02. In addition, the firm beat revenue forecasts easily.
Look for additional earnings reports from Arista Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: ANET), Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK), LogMeIn Inc. (Nasdaq: LOGM), Shopify Inc. (Nasdaq: SHOP), CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), Cyberark Software Ltd. (Nasdaq: CYBR), Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), TreeHouse Foods Inc. (NYSE: THS), and Cognex Corp. (Nasdaq: CGNX).
Thursday's U.S. Economic Calendar (all times EST)
Jobless Claims at 8:30 a.m.
Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey at 8:30 a.m.
PPI-Final Demand at 8:30 a.m.
Empire State Manufacturing Survey at 8:30 a.m.
Industrial Production at 9:15 a.m.
Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index at 9:45 a.m.
Housing Market Index at 10 a.m.
EIA Natural Gas Report at 10:30 a.m.
Four-Week Bill Announcement at 11 a.m.
Three-Month Bill Announcement at 11 a.m.
Six-Month Bill Announcement at 11 a.m.
Two-Year FRN Note Announcement at 11 a.m.
Two-Year Note Announcement at 11 a.m.
Five-Year Note Announcement at 11 a.m.
Seven-Year Note Announcement at 11 a.m.
Treasury International Capital at 4 p.m.
Fed Balance Sheet at 4:30 p.m.
Money Supply at 4:30 p.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.