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The Dow Jones News today: The Dow Jones projected a 58-point gain in pre-market hours as investors prepare for a light day of earnings reports and continue to monitor ongoing geopolitical tension in the Middle East. Yesterday, the Dow Jones locked in its first six days of consecutive gains since February, erasing the losses incurred by the index in 2018.
As earnings season comes to a close, many investors are looking for the companies that will provide significant returns when quarter two results are announced later this year. Using Money Morning's proprietary VQScore™ stock valuation system, we found an undervalued dividend stock that's selling at a huge discount right now. Check it out here...
Here are the numbers from Thursday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
| Index | Previous Close | Point Change | Percentage Change |
| Dow Jones | 24,739.53 | 196.99 | 0.80% |
| S&P 500 | 2,723.07 | 25.28 | 0.89% |
| Nasdaq | 7,404.97 | 65.07 | 0.89% |
Now here's a closer look at today's most important market events and stocks, plus Friday's economic calendar.
Money Morning Insight of the Day
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The Top Stock Market Stories for Friday
- Crude oil continues to find support thanks to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal. Although oil prices are down marginally this morning, prices remain near multi-year highs, as expected sanctions on Iran have tightened the global supply outlook in the year ahead. In fact, prices could continue to rise on news that the Trump administration is considering efforts for regime change in Iran.
- Trump tweeted Thursday that he will be meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June. The president says that he aims to work with Kim to create a "very special moment for world peace." The meeting is seen as a possible first step to ending roughly six decades of hostility between the United States and North Korea.
- On Thursday, data showed that U.S. inflation eased in April. The surprising news reduced concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve will be aggressive with interest rate hikes throughout 2018. We can expect a lot of discussion about rates today. San Francisco Fed President John Williams will speak at a conference in New York today, while St. Louis Fed President James Bullard attends a business development event in Missouri.
Three Stocks to Watch Today: TRI, DBX, FB
- After a busy week of earnings reports, just one major U.S. firm will report earnings today. Thomson Reuters Corp. (NYSE: TRI) is expected to report earnings per share of $0.58 before the bell. Wall Street analysts expect first-quarter revenue of $1.35 billion.
- Dropbox Inc. (Nasdaq: DBX) stock was off 4% in pre-market hours after the firm reported its first quarterly earnings report since going public in March. The cloud storage giant reported earnings and revenue figures that topped Wall Street expectations. It also topped average revenue figures per customer.
- Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) is facing hostile words from one of the most powerful investment groups in the world. Christopher Ailman, CIO of the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS), has compared the social media giant's leadership to a "dictatorship." Ailman offered harsh words for CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his majority holding of voting rights at the organization. Facebook's dual-class share structure has made it very difficult for outside investors to effect change at the company.
- Shares of Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) fell more than 20% after the bell on Thursday. The plunge occurred after the cybersecurity company announced it is undergoing an internal investigation around its previous financial results. The company said that a voluntary probe could affect the filing of its annual report. The news overshadowed strong quarterly revenue and profits during its quarterly report.
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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.
