Pre-market trading in the Dow Jones today indicated slight gains after Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) rose 3.4% on better-than-anticipated earnings last Tuesday. The tech giant reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.73, a figure that beat expectations by $0.04. Revenue of $61.18 billion also beat expectations. Because Apple is the largest stock in the economy based on market capitalization, Apple's stellar returns should provide a significant boost to markets today.
Apple shares have had a bad case of market whiplash recently, as investors react to every rumor coming from Wall Street. The Money Morning team took a closer look at some of the recent negative press around Apple and discovered it's nothing but noise - noise that's distracting investors from a huge profit play. Check out our findings here...
Here are the numbers from Tuesday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
| Index | Previous Close | Point Change | Percentage Change |
| Dow Jones | 24,099.05 | -64.10 | -0.27% |
| Nasdaq | 7,130.70 | 64.44 | 0.91% |
| S&P 500 | 2,654.80 | 6.75 | 0.25% |
Now here's a closer look at today's Money Morning insight, most important market events, and stocks to watch.
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The Top Stock Market Stories for Wednesday
- This week's busy earnings calendar will take a backseat to U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's Open Market Meeting. The Fed Open Market Committee will decide when to raise interest rates again in 2018. The bank is not expected to move on monetary policy this month, but all signs point to a more aggressive approach starting in June. The Fed raised its interest rate by a quarter percentage point on March 21.
- Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) rocked on the online dating industry on Tuesday, announcing plans to offer an opt-in dating application on its platform. The news sent shares of The Match Group Inc. (Nasdaq: MTCH) tumbling 22%, and IAC/InterActiveCorp (NYSE: IAC) down 17.7%. During a developers' conference, Facebook said that the dating app will be optional and not visible to the users' friends. Match executives questioned the announcement's timing given issues in the space that require strict attention to personal and data sensitivity. Facebook has been under pressure since the first quarter, when it was embroiled in a massive data scandal dating back to the 2016 election. The sell-off after the scandal and the recent developers' conference have created an incredible opportunity. Find out how to make 100% gains on Facebook, right here.
Four Stocks to Watch Today: TSLA, AMZN, CVS, and AET
- Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) will lead another busy day of earnings reports. Investors will be questioning the massive cash burn rate of the tech giant and whether it has been able to meet its aggressive manufacturing and fulfillment targets of vehicles. Wall Street expects the firm to report a stunning earnings loss of -$3.37 per share on roughly $3.17 billion in revenue.
- Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) caught the attention Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) due to its recently released tax return. Sen. Sanders has put the e-commerce giant on his radar and pronounced that the firm paid "zero" in taxes last year. Sanders joins U.S. President Donald Trump as a critic of the organization's tax structure.
- CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) will also be reporting earnings this morning. The health benefits giant will be talking a bit more about its merger with health insurance giant Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET). CVS is expected to report EPS of $1.39 on top of $45.08 billion in revenue. Here's why the Aetna-CVS deal is so important for the markets.
- Look for additional earnings reports from Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT), Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA), Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNGA), 3D Systems Inc. (NYSE: DDD), NXP Semiconductors NV (Nasdaq: NXPI), Cirrus Logic Inc. (Nasdaq: CRUS), SodaStream International Ltd. (Nasdaq: SODA), and Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN).
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About the Author
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.