The Dow Jones today is off to a hot start today ahead of the FOMC meeting today. Dow futures surged nearly 200 points higher before trading this morning.
Investors expect that the Fed will hold interest rates at current levels, but they're looking for signs of a rate cut in the future. In addition, markets are reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump's criticism of the European Central Bank's interest rate policy and for "holding down" the Euro.
Here are the numbers from Monday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Index
Previous Close
Point Change
Percentage Change
Dow Jones
26,112.53
+22.92
+0.09%
S&P 500
2,889.67
+2.69
+0.09%
Nasdaq
7,845.02
+48.37
+0.62%
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, the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell to 2.03% ahead of this week's FOMC meeting. This is the lowest rate since September 2017. The Fed will kick off its two-day meeting this morning, and markets are expecting some changes to the central bank's rhetoric when it comes to interest rates in the future. Most analysts believe that the Fed is setting up the markets for an interest rate cut next month.
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) will unveil the whitepaper for its cryptocurrency on Tuesday. Shares of the social media giant are up 1.5% in pre-market hours as the company launches a token called Libra. Its new subsidiary, Calibra, will build a new digital wallet that will allow users to store the currency and send it across its network of applications. The new cryptocurrency could radically change the way that money is transferred across borders in the forms of remittances. The firm has already partnered with companies like Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), and Mercado Pago. The price of Bitcoin was largely flat after the announcement.
Oil prices ticked slightly higher as buyers tried to call a bottom in the market. WTI crude added 0.4% to hit $52.16, while Brent crude added 0.2% to top $61 per barrel. Markets continue to focus on slowing global growth and tensions in the Middle East.
Money Morning Insight of the Day
According to one of America's most highly decorated intelligence operatives, North Korean nukes are just a "deep state" cover story for something much more devastating.
The Pentagon has been racing to funnel untold millions to a small $6 defense contractor with a mind-blowing new technology designed to stop this twisted plot dead in its tracks.
It's straight from the pages of a science fiction novel.
Shares of Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) are under pressure after the company failed to secure a single plane order during the first day of the Paris Air Show. As we noted yesterday, BA stock is struggling thanks to its prolonged grounding of the 737 Max jets.
In other cryptocurrency news, Blockchain giant Ripple purchased a $30 million stake in the payment firm MoneyGram International Inc. (NASDAQ: MGI). The company purchased shares at $4.10, a sharp premium compared to yesterday's closing price. Shares of MGI stock are up 150% in pre-market hours.
Shares of Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) were sliding after the company received a stock downgrade from Macquarie Research. The investment research firm raised concerns that the cloud computing giant was not investing enough capital into its future. Oracle will report earnings on Wednesday.
In other news, shares of Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) topped $200 per share briefly this morning after gaining another 15%. Shares continue to rally on reports that retailers and restaurants are experiencing shortages of the meatless burger products. The stock's rally came on news that it will launch a new "Beyond Beef" product in grocery stores next week. Still, while the firm faces the extremely frothy valuation, rivals like Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) are prepared to launch their own products, which could put pressure on BYND stock.