What Tonight’s State of the Union Means for the Dow Jones Today

The Dow Jones today is rising again ahead of the market's open as investors look ahead to U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address tonight.

We'll break down what we're watching for in the speech below, but we're certainly paying attention to what the president has to say about the economy and trade war. Plus, one of the hottest IPOs of 2019 just got the green light...

Here are the numbers from Monday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:

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 Tuesday

• This morning, shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) fell 2.3% after the company reported earnings. The downturn came despite news that the firm topped earnings and revenue expectations. Fourth quarter income came in at $12.77 per share, well above the $4.35 reported during the same period in the prior year. The company's advertising business showed little concerns about rising competition from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Its advertising arm reported total revenue of $32.6 billion, up 20% from the previous year. The firm now has more than $100 billion in cash, a figure that is prompting suspicion that the tech giant will soon begin paying a dividend.

• President Trump will deliver the State of the Union Address before both Chambers of Congress tonight. Trump is expected to talk about the government shutdown and U.S. border security at length this evening. In addition, investors will be looking for statements on the health of the American economy and the stock market. According to various reports, Trump and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Monday night for an informal dinner. President Trump has been critical of the Federal Reserve's recent efforts to raise interest rates.
• Finally, one of the biggest IPOs of the year is now on track. The $7 billion enterprise messaging firm Slack has filed to go public with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It joins other Silicon Valley giants like Uber, Zoom, and Lyft that are planning to go public in 2019. Slack has raised $1.2 billion to date.

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Stocks to Watch Today: DIS, TMUS, BP, S

• Shares of Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) will lead a busy day of earnings reports. Wall Street is expecting a small decline in revenue for the first quarter. Disney is still in the process of absorbing most of Fox's assets from a deal last June. In addition, Disney will be launching its streaming service, Disney+, and investors will be looking for updates on the project.
• In deal news, T-Mobile U.S. Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) is looking to sweeten an offer to regulators to ensure a merger with rival Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S). The telecom giant told the U.S. Federal Communications Commission that it would freeze the prices of many plans if it receives approval for a deal. T-Mobile has offered $26 billion to buy Sprint.
• Shares of BP Plc. (NYSE: BP) rallied more than 3.7% after the global energy giant topped 2018 earnings expectations. The firm's big bets on shale developments have paid off. Profitability more than doubled over the previous year, while production topped out at 3.7 million barrels per day.
• Look for earnings reports from Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM), Becton, Dickenson & Co. (NYSE: BDX), BP Plc. (NYSE: BP), Chubb Ltd. (NYSE: CB), Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR), Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR), Estee Lauder Co. Inc. (NYSE: EL), Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ), Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI), Plains All American Pipeline LP (NYSE: PAA), Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL), Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP), and Tableau Software Inc. (NASDAQ: DATA).

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