The Dow Jones today is on its way up as markets digest easing measures from the U.S. central bank and the European Central Bank.
More on this below. Plus, the vice president's latest comments on China...
Here are the numbers from Thursday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Index
Previous Close
Point Change
Percentage Change
Dow Jones
2,7094.79
-52.29
-0.19
S&P 500
3,006.79
-0.06
0.00
Nasdaq
8,182.88
-5.49
-0.07
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 Friday
Investors are still parsing through the opinions of Federal Reserve leaders over this week's interest rate cut. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James B. Bullard argued that the Fed should have cut rates even more this week. Bullard argued that the U.S. economy is slowing and that the American manufacturing sector is "already in a recession." He said that the Fed should have slashed rates by 50 basis points and said the Fed could always increase rates later if they were wrong. Shockingly, Bullard isn't the only member of the central bank making waves on Friday. Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and New York Fed President John Williams will all speak later today.
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Once again, the Trump Administration provided some additional tariff relief on select items from China. The White House offered exemptions on a wide variety of products like dog leashes, plastic straws, and more than 400 other things. The decision comes a day after Vice President Mike Pence offered a strong opinion on the state of trade with China at CNBC's Delivering Alpha conference in New York. Pence said that previous administrations were willing to accept massive trade deficits with China in exchange for cheap goods and outsourced jobs. "The era of economic surrender is over," he said.
On the oil front, WTI crude is on pace to jump 7% this week. Markets are still digesting updates on this week's attack on the Saudi crude supply. The country has said it will get its operations back online by the end of the month. However, tensions in the Middle East continue to swell. WTI crude is up 0.88% at $58.64 Friday, while Brent crude gained 0.6% at $64.82.
Stocks to Watch Today: FB, AAPL
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg received quite a request from one U.S. Senator on Friday. Sen. Josh Hawley asked the 34-year-old billionaire and social media CEO just how serious he was about protecting consumer data. To prove that Facebook is adamant about data protection, Hawley suggested that Facebook could sell off Instagram and WhatsApp or wall them off from the flagship company. Zuckerberg, naturally, told the congressman that he did not think that was a great idea.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) leads headlines this morning with the official release of the iPhone 11. According to media reports, consumers have lined up for hours at certain stores across the world in anticipation of the device's release. Analysts appear bullish on the release based on preorders of the new phone.
Look for an earnings report from Applied Genetic Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: AGTC).
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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.