The Dow Jones Industrial Average will decline Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested this week that he might hit China with additional tariffs.
More on this below. Plus: Can the Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) earnings report shoulder big tech?
First, here are the numbers from Wednesday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Index
Previous Close
Point Change
Percentage Change
Dow Jones
27,191.98
-115.78
-0.42
S&P 500
2,984.42
-19.62
-0.65
Nasdaq
8,185.21
-37.59
-0.46
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 Thursday
On Thursday, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will lead a very busy day of earnings reports. A day after a horrible earnings report from Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), investors will look for Microsoft to save big tech stocks this quarter. Wall Street expects that Microsoft will report earnings of $1.21 per share on top of $32.73 billion.
You Have to See This to Believe It: America's favorite "shark" debuts the Angels & Entrepreneurs Summit. Watch now...
President Trump made a new series of skeptical statements this week about the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China. On Wednesday, Beijing warned Trump that any new tariffs would hinder progress toward a deal. Yesterday, China told the White House to "make up its mind" about whether it wants to strike a deal, according to the South China Morning Post. With that in mind, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said they might travel to Beijing this week if talks remain productive.
Restaurant stocks were on fire during the first half of 2019. The sector averaged a six-month return of 25.2%, beating the S&P 500 rally of 18.2%. New partnerships with delivery services like GrubHub, DoorDash, and UberEats have added a new avenue to expand their customer base - and more importantly - margins. Here are the top three restaurants to own during the second half of the year.
Gold prices got a bump from hedge fund manager Ray Dalio. The hedge fund manager behind Bridgewater Associates predicted that gold would be a top investment while the market experiences a "paradigm shift" in the next few years. Dalio said that central banks will grow more aggressive in devaluing their own currencies. Dalio made his remarks in a 6,000-word LinkedIn posting.
Stock to Watch Today: NFLX, MS, IBM
Shares of Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) plunged more than 12% after the streaming giant missed big on international subscriber growth. The streaming giant announced it added just 2.7 million new users in the second quarter, well below the 5 million expected by Wall Street analysts. The company blamed its content portfolio for the miss in revenue and subscriber growth. The firm still beat earnings expectations by $0.04. Netflix now has more than 151.5 million subscribers around the globe.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reported earnings before the bell today. Look for additional earnings reports from Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS), UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH), Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM), Badger Meter Inc. (NYSE: BMI), Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), SunTrust Banks Inc. (NYSE: STI), Dover Corp. (NYSE: DOV), and Home Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HOMB).
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) fell another 1.3% in pre-market hours after the firm topped Wall Street earnings expectations. The firm reported EPS of $3.17 on top of $19.16 billion in revenue. Those figures topped analysts' forecasts of $3.07 on top of $19.16 billion. Broader sector weakness pulled down shares. IBM reported stronger cloud business revenue, which increased by 5% year over year.
Robert Herjavec: Indisputable Proof That Anybody Can Get Rich Through Angel Investing
When Neil Patel launched the Angels & Entrepreneurs Summit, he had only planned to invite a small group of guests to join him and guest "shark," Robert Herjavec... but then Neil revealed something truly shocking.
During this clip (about halfway through the event), he reveals indisputable proof that anybody can transform their life through angel investing.
We knew we had to show this event to everyone - the information is just too valuable to keep under wraps.