Expect the Dow Jones today to keep climbing as the United States and China move closer to a trade deal.
The latest news indicated China had proposed reducing some tariffs on American products, a sign we are entering the home stretch on an agreement between the countries.
Check out which stocks are getting the biggest boost below...
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
This week, we'll celebrate the 10th anniversary of the bull market. On March 6, 2009, the financial markets bottomed out in the wake of the U.S. housing market collapse. Roughly 650,000 jobs had been lost in the previous month, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had crashed more than 505 points from its 2007 high. Following three rounds of quantitative easing and an improving economy, the Dow has surged more than 300%. The question now is whether the U.S. economy can keep churning. With Europe and China both struggling, some economists are worried the problems will spread and that the country will face a recession in 2020. That said, the Federal Reserve has expressed a flexible posture toward any more interest rate hikes this year.
Investors expect that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will host a summit in the coming weeks to announce a deal on trade. The United States and China have been locked in a heated standoff since last year. Ongoing trade pressures have pummeled sales for American farmers while pushing prices higher on Chinese goods. Last week, Trump's economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that the progress on a trade deal "has been terrific." The news helped push shares of Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), and Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) higher in pre-market hours.
This week's jobs report is expected to show another solid month of gains for the U.S. economy. But expect greater attention to focus on a busy week of earnings reports from many of the country's top retailers. Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), and Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) all report earnings this week.
Money Morning Insight of the Day
While researching his best-selling book, "Contrarian Investing," this man uncovered a method that is surprisingly easy - and less risky than traditional methods of making money in the markets. You can grow incredibly wealthy using this secret method - even when markets are going down. In fact, he made his first huge gain using this method when the markets were completely crashing. See it for yourself...
Stocks to Watch Today: AMZN, BBBY, BCS, CRM
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares pushed higher after the e-commerce giant received an upgrade from Evercore. The analysts hiked the price target from $1,800 to $1,965 on expectations of higher gross profits. "In this note, we make the case that given Amazon's shifting business mix," analysts wrote, "the pace of gross profit growth has become a more relevant indicator of the health of the business, and as such, should be the key metric used to value the company."
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) fell 3.5% after the firm received a stock downgrade from Barclays Plc. (NYSE: BCS). The investment bank said it is concerned about the retail firm's ongoing restructuring. Barclays dropped its price target for BBBY stock from $15 to $13, citing concerns about retail traffic trends and gross margin growth.
Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) will report earnings after the bell on Monday. Look for other earnings reports from YY Inc. (NYSE: YY), Clarus Corp. (NASDAQ: CLAR), and The Children's Place Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE).
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.