The Dow Jones today projected a 80-point gain Monday morning as markets reacted to Warren Buffett's comments during Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s (NYSE: BRK.A) annual shareholder meeting over the weekend in Omaha, Neb. According to Buffett, Berkshire is currently holding $100 billion in cash thanks to returns on roughly $14 billion of investments made in the first quarter of 2018. Buffett also stated that he would be happy to invest the company's $100 billion if the right investment opportunity arose.
Buffett's returns this year are staggering. However, Money Morning Special Situation Strategist Tim Melvin thinks that the average investor can beat Buffett's returns by going after the one kind of investment the Oracle of Omaha can't touch. Check out Tim's strategy for beating Buffett here...
Here are the numbers from Friday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
| Index | Previous Close | Point Change | Percentage Change |
| Dow Jones | 24,262.51 | 332.26 | 1.39% |
| S&P 500 | 2,663.42 | 33.69 | 1.28% |
| Nasdaq | 7,209.62 | 121.47 | 1.71% |
Now here's a closer look at today's Money Morning insight, the most important market events, and stocks to watch.
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Money Morning Insight of the Day
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The Top Stock Market Stories for Monday
- Oil prices are at levels we haven't seen in years. U.S. crude topped $70 for the first since 2014, as U.S. President Donald Trump appeared increasingly likely to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and reinforce sanctions on Tehran. In addition, OPEC has announced plans to bolster prices and cap production. For oil investors, Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors says it's time to buckle up. According to Moors, revoking the Iran deal would cause "price chaos" around the globe. And that's right as driving season starts in the United States. Here's more on the coming chaos for oil.
- In deal news, Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) announced it will purchase Gramercy Property Trust (NYSE: GPT) for $7.6 billion in cash. Grammercy manages commercial real estate. While this may seem like a boring deal, Blackstone is buying a business that churns out cold hard cash for its investors. We want to keep this deal on your radar, because there are many other deals like this coming down the pipeline. We're going to be discussing one of the best real estate opportunities available very soon - so keep an eye out for updates.
Three Stocks to Watch Today: AMZN, AAPL, TSN, SBUX
- Shareholders of Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) cheered statements made by Warren Buffett over the weekend. The Oracle of Omaha said he messed up by not investing in Amazon and Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL). "I made the wrong decisions on Google and Amazon," Buffett said on Saturday. "We've looked at it. I made the mistake in not being able to come to a conclusion where I really felt that at the present prices that the prospects were far better than the prices indicated." Buffett says he now has a "very, very, very high opinion" of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. The Oracle believes that Bezos has created something that is "close to a miracle."
- Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) added another 0.6% Monday, to reach $185.00 per share - a new 52-week high. The uptick came after Warren Buffett announced his firm purchased another 75 million shares of Apple during Q1.
- Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) will lead a busy day of earnings reports on Monday. The food-processing giant was expected to report $1.37 per share on top of $9.95 billion in revenue. However, the firm fell $0.03 short of expectations. It also missed revenue projections.
- Investors in Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq: SBUX) are celebrating a sweet deal. Nestle has paid $7.2 billion for the right to sell Starbucks packaged coffee. The deal will bring Starbucks packaged goods to international markets. Nestle adds these products to its existing portfolio of coffee products like Nescafe and Nespresso.
- Look for earnings reports from Zillow Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ZG), Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (Nasdaq: CTSH), Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ), Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: OAS), Sysco Corp. (NYSE: SYY), Nautilus Inc. (NYSE: NLS), AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC), Fabrinet (NYSE: FN), Clarus Corp. (NYSE: CLAR), Lannett Co. (NYSE: LCI) and The Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS).
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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.