Dow Jones Today Slides on Latest COVID-19 Stimulus Announcement

The Dow Jones today could lose 100 points after lawmakers introduced a more limited stimulus bill than the last to support citizens in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Investors continue to speculate on the actions of the Federal Reserve ahead of the central bank's meeting on Tuesday. More on everything moving the Dow today, below.

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

Now here are what I think will be the most important market events and stocks on Monday morning.

The Top Stock Market Stories for Tuesday

• The coronavirus outbreak is showing signs of slowing across hotspots like Arizona, Texas, and Florida. Across the country, total COVID cases registered at 4.2 million, with the death total sitting north of 147,000. However, the seven-day average for U.S. infections still topped 65,000. Cases are increasing in various places across the country that are now on the verge of a spread – particularly rural areas in the Northwest.

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• This morning, Senate Republicans announced the latest stimulus effort to bolster the U.S. economy – the HEALS Act. The bill would cap federal unemployment insurance at 70% of a worker's previous wages and issue a second round of stimulus checks to Americans based on the same qualifications in March. Meanwhile, the bill would provide shields for businesses, doctors, and schools from lawsuits tied to COVID-19. It would offer another $190 billion for Paycheck Protection Program loans. Democrats have already criticized the plan, saying that it doesn't provide enough relief to American workers or states.
• Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is poised to kick off its two-day meeting on monetary policy. The markets don't anticipate that the Fed will shift interest rates outside of the federal funds range of 0% to 0.25%. However, the markets do expect that the Fed will take a dovish approach to assisting the markets and economy.

Stocks to Watch Today: MCD, GS, FB, AMZN, AAPL, GOOGL, MMM, V

• McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) led the latest round of earnings reports on Tuesday morning. This morning, MCD said that its same-store sales were off just 2.3% in June compared to the same period in 2019. That figure suggests that the company's locations have recovered faster than most analysts had expected. Still, shares were off 3.6% after the firm reported earnings per share of $0.66 on top of $3.77 billion. Wall Street forecasted $0.74 on top of $3.68 billion.
• Gold prices have pulled back slightly on Tuesday after nearly breaching the $2,000 level. That said, Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) has hiked its price target on gold to $2,300 over the next 12 months. The bank also hiked its outlook on silver from $22 to $30 over the next 12 months. The bank cited "a potential shift in the U.S. Fed toward an inflationary bias against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions, elevated U.S. domestic political and social uncertainty, and a growing second wave of COVID-19 related infections" as reasons for its new forecasts.
• Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) announced that it will move its second-quarter earnings report to Thursday instead of tomorrow thanks to a "scheduling conflict." CEO Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to discuss antitrust matters at Big Tech companies. Thursday will now feature earnings reports from Facebook, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).
• On the earnings front, look for reports from 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU), Raytheon Technologies Corp. (NYSE: RTX), Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD), Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), and Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX).

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Garrett Baldwin

About the Author

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Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, and consultant with degrees from Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Purdue, and Indiana University. He is a seasoned financial and political risk analyst, with a focus on stocks, hedge funds, private equity, blockchain, and housing policy. He has conducted risk assessment projects for clients in 27 countries, and consulted on policy and financial operations for some of the nation's largest financial institutions, including a $1.5 trillion credit fund, a $43 billion credit and auto loan giant, as well as two of the largest Wall Street banks by assets under management.

Garrett joined Money Map Press as an economist and researcher in 2011, specializing in alternative strategies with an emphasis on fundamental and technical analysis.

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