In stock market news today, April 23, 2015, U.S. stock futures forecasted a 21-point decline from Wednesday's close.
The DJIA slid 60 points as corporate earnings continue to show the effects of a strong U.S. dollar. The dollar has surged more than 9% year to date and punished companies with a broad international focus and reliance on overseas sales. The Nasdaq moved 19 points higher on news of a proposed biotech merger.
Here's what's in focus today as earnings reports continue to roll in...
"Contrary to what the rest of the world believes, Google earnings are all but irrelevant except in the very short term."
Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald knows Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) well. He has followed the tech giant since its founding in 1998. Just last week, Fitz-Gerald notched a successful prediction he'd made years ago when the EU filed antitrust charges against Google on April 15.
The European Commission filed formal antitrust charges against Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) on Wednesday.
But a Google antitrust lawsuit in Europe has been fermenting for years.
Tech M&A deals are so commonplace now they often come and go with little fanfare. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) alone has acquired 44 companies since 2000. Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) has gobbled up more than three times that, with 144 buys in the last 15 years.
These deals are actually changing our lives - perhaps more than we realize. For instance, Google bought mobile software Android in 2005. Now, Android smartphones account for 78.4% of global market share. There are 76 million Android users in the U.S. alone.
Here are five charts that show the recent M&A deals from American tech sweethearts Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo!, and Google.
In another year or two, chances are some of these buys will have changed the way we live...
Where "the herd" sees doom and gloom, we see profit opportunity. And today we're going to show you a piggybank investment that will make you huge profits.
In fact, this stock represents an opportunity to create the kind of wealth that you'll be able to pass along to future generations.
Here's our pick and how "piggyback investing" works...
U.S. stock futures for Thursday, April 9, forecasted a 4-point gain from yesterday's close. The DJIA Index added 27 points on Wednesday following a busy day of earnings reports and the release of minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in March.
Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) has been making headlines lately for its creative responses to the media. The tech giant has everyone in stitches.
Except for The Wall Street Journal and The Daily Dot, that is.
Here's the hilarious way Google's been handling the media's latest hoopla.
Good morning! Stock futures today (Friday, March 27) forecasted a 10-point retreat from yesterday's close. On Thursday, The DJIA managed to bounce back from early triple-digit losses but still closed down 39 points, notching its fourth consecutive drop.
This morning, it's all about fourth-quarter GDP. The U.S. Commerce Department will release its final estimate on GDP for the last quarter of 2014. Economists expect the final level to tick up to 2.4% growth over the quarter.
Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq: GOOG) plan to merge its European operations might look like a defensive pullback, but it's really a potential buying opportunity. In fact, Money Morning's Defense and Tech Specialist Michael Robinson thinks the stock could soar 50% over the next three and a half years.
The search giant said on February 25 that it would merge its two European divisions.
Google stock is one of our favorite tech plays. It got even better with the Feb. 23 announcement that Google will purchase the mobile payment company Softcard (formerly known as Isis).
Essentially, the search engine company is buying Softcard's technology to use as Google Wallet.
The purchase also guarantees pre-installment of Google Wallet on all Verizon Communication Inc. (NYSE: VZ), T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: PCS), and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Android phones in the United States starting later this year.
Money Morning's Tech Specialist Michael Robinson was spot-on with his latest Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) stock prediction.
The search engine giant is one step closer to tech world domination.
New FAA drone regulations proposed Feb. 15 aren't what tech giants Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) or Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) had hoped for.
"...Once you spend some time looking at them, some of the things proposed would be devastating to the future of the industry," Small UAV Coalition executive director Michael Drobac said to The Wall Street Journal Monday.
Here's what GOOG and AMZN investors need to know...
More than 3 billion people on Earth still have no or poor access to the Internet. Elon Musk wants to build a network of hundreds of low-orbiting satellites that will deliver high-speed, low-cost Internet to the most remote places on Earth.
But he won't be building this "Space Internet" alone. One tech company is already helping him make his dream a reality.
Here's the company poised to reap big gains by helping Musk...
GOOG earnings were released post-market today (Thursday)...
Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) reported fourth quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $6.88 - $0.20 under projections. Revenue came in at $14.5 billion (16.9% growth year over year), also under expectations by $110 million.
Our advice: ignore the bottom line miss. Ignore chatter about how Google's advertising has lost steam (the average price of Google's digital advertisements fell 3%).
This was one of the most remarkable Q4's in company history - and we'll show you why...
Stock market today, January 29, 2015: U.S. stock futures for Thursday, Jan. 29, forecasted a 33-point gain from yesterday's close. The Dow Jones shed 195 points on Wednesday following a U.S. Federal Reserve statement about interest rates issued at the conclusion of the FOMC meeting.
Today, investors will focus on a busy day of earnings reports that includes quarterly updates from Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA). Additionally stay tuned for earnings reports from these notables: Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), Viacom Inc. (Nasdaq: VIAB), Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO), Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT).
