The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid more than 2% on Friday alone, and today isn't shaping up to be much better. Dow futures are already down 74 points ahead of trading today, and the index is now on the verge of falling below the 24,000 level.
Investors are again wary of the ongoing trade battle between the United States and China, which is fueling a flight from equities into safe-haven assets. That could just be the start of a coming crisis that could make the Great Recession seem like day at the beach. More on that later...
Here are the numbers from Friday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Index
Previous Close
Point Change
Percentage Change
Dow Jones
24,100.51
-496.87
-2.02%
S&P 500
2,599.95
-50.59
-1.91%
Nasdaq
6,910.66
-159.67
-2.26%
Now, here's a closer look at today's Money Morning insight, the most important market events, and stocks to watch.
The Top Stock Market Stories for Monday
The big news this morning isn't out of New York. It's from Malaysia. The country has filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) over the state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (or 1MDB). The country charges that two former Goldman employees violated the nation's security laws by misappropriating $2.7 billion in bond sales. The nation's attorney general says that employees published untrue statements in a number of offering documents filed in 2012 and 2013 for the sale of international bonds. Goldman says it is prepared to fight the charges.
A U.S. federal judge has ruled that the Affordable Healthcare Act is unconstitutional. Shares of health insurance giants Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) and UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) were off more than 2% after an announcement by Texas Judge Reed O'Connor. The judge said that Congress' decision to repeal the individual mandate ordering that all Americans get health insurance or face a tax gutted the law and made it unconstitutional. The case will now head to an appeals court and could find its way in the Supreme Court.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) isn't going to allow its competitor, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), to snatch up all available talent in New York City. Google announced plans to invest about $1 billion into a new Manhattan-based campus. Its new "Google Hudson Street" campus will consist of 1.7 million square feet across three buildings. The tech giant had already doubled its number of employees in New York over the last 10 years.
Our Greatest National Nightmare Has Already Begun
The pension industry is sitting on a massive $6 trillion lie - and Congress won't own up to the truth. Now, that lie has become a silent killer for the retirement dreams of millions of Americans.
Stock prices will implode, the bond market will crash and burn, interest rates will skyrocket, and most importantly, it will drive millions of American seniors to the brink of bankruptcy... and beyond. The rich will get richer, and everyone else who doesn't prepare will financially drown.
Look for an important earnings report from Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) after the bell Monday. The cloud computing giant's stock has been performing well in 2018. But the meager 2% return this year has tempered expectations for a breakout. Wall Street expects that the firm is going to experience a 1.1% decline in quarterly revenue to $9.53 billion. Analysts expect an 11.4% jump in earnings to $0.78 per share.
Shares of Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) fell 6% after the Big Box retailer received a downgrade this morning from Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). The U.S. bank cut its price target for BBY stock from $70 to $50 due to slowing sales of smartphones and televisions.
Shares of PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PGE) fell sharply after California regulators announced that employees at the utility company falsified safety records for its natural gas pipeline for years. California says that the firm didn't have enough employees to complete inspections and pressured workers to get the jobs complete. In 2010, one of the company's pipelines exploded and killed eight people. The company has also received a $1.6 billion fine in 2015 after the firm failed to keep its natural gas transmission lines safe. This was the largest fine ever levied by state energy regulators. Today's news comes as the firm faces added scrutiny in the wake of the deadly Camp Fire in California.
Look for earnings reports today from Heico Corp. (NYSE: HEI) and Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT).
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.