Dow Jones Industrial Average Adds 29 Points Ahead of Janet Yellen Speech

Good morning! For Nov. 12, 2015, here is the top stock market news and stocks to watch…

Stock Futures Today

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average today (Thursday) were up 29 points this morning ahead of a busy day of earnings reports and a number of speeches from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, who will speak on monetary policy.

Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 55 points as investors kept a tight eye on shares of brick-and-mortar retailers after a terrible full-year earnings report from Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M).

Top News in the Stock Market Today

• The Stock Market Today: Investors will turn their focus to weekly jobless claims and speeches from six members of the U.S. Federal Reserve, including remarks from central bank chairwoman Janet Yellen, during the Fed’s conference on post-crisis monetary policy. The earnings report calendar will be extremely busy.
• Oil Outlook: Oil priceswere mixed on news U.S. domestic crude inventories rose last week. It was the seventh straight week the U.S. government reported an increase in crude stocks. Inventory levels surged another 6.3 million barrels last week, fueled by a very large gain at the Cushing, Okla., delivery point. Analysts had only expected a build of 1 million barrels. December WTI prices added 0.2% this morning to hit $43.03, while Brent oil crude – priced in London – dipped 0.1% to hit $45.77. Here are the the two trends shaking the oil industry today.

Earnings Outlook: CSCO, FOSL, JWN, AMAT, KSS, AAP, LOCO

• Earnings Report No. 1, CSCO: After the bell, Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) will report fiscal first-quarter earnings. Wall Street anticipates the firm will report per-share earnings of $0.56 on top of $12.64 billion in revenue.
• Earnings Report No. 2, FOSL: Following market close, Fossil Group Inc.(Nasdaq: FOSL) will report fiscal third-quarter earnings. Consensus expectations call for an EPS of $1.13 on revenues of $784.75 million.
• Earnings Report No. 3, JWN: Shares of Nordstrom Inc.(NYSE: JWN) were up marginally this morning as the retail giant plans to report third-quarter earnings. Wall Street analysts project a consensus report of $0.72 per share on revenue of $3.371 billion.
• Additional companies reporting earnings include Applied Materials Inc.(Nasdaq: AMAT), Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP), and El Pollo LoCo Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LOCO).

 Pre-Market Movers: AAPL, PYPL, BABA, RYCEY

• Pre-Market Movers No. 1, AAPL: Shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) are on the move this morning on news the tech giant is working with several U.S. banks to create a mobile person-to-person payment service. The new program would compete with Paypal Holdings Inc.‘s (Nasdaq: PYPL) Venmo platform, which processed $16 billion in the last quarter.
• Pre-Market Movers No. 2, BABA: Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) fell almost 2% yesterday despite news the company sold 91.2 billion yuan ($14.32 billion) of goods during the nation’s shopping festival Singles’ Day. The figure is a 60% jump from the same day last year, which dwarfs spending on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States, combined. With the nation’s biggest shopping day behind it, what’s next for the Alibaba stock price?
• Pre-Market Movers No. 3, RYCEY: Shares of Rolls-Royce Holding Plc. (OTCMKTS ADR: RYCEY) are in for a very long day today. This morning, London-based shares of the luxury automotive giant issued a profit warning and took traders by surprise. Shares on the London Stock Exchange were off more than 17%. The company said it may have to cut its dividend in the coming months.

Today’s U.S. Economic Calendar (all times EST)

• Jobless Claims at 8:30 a.m.
• Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard speaks at 9:05 a.m.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen speaks at 9:30 a.m.
• Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker speaks at 9:45 a.m.
• Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index at 9:45 a.m.
• JOLTS at 10 a.m.
• Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans Speaks at 10:15 a.m.
• EIA Petroleum Status Report at 11 a.m.
• 3-Month Bill Announcement at 11 a.m.
• 6-Month Bill Announcement at 11 a.m.
• 10-Year TIPS Announcement at 11 a.m.
• New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley speaks at 11:45 a.m.
• 30-Year Bond Auction at 1 p.m.
• Treasury Budget at 2 p.m.
• Fed Balance Sheet at 4:30 p.m.
• Money Supply at 4:30 p.m.
• Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer speaks at 6 p.m.

What Investors Must Know This Week

• Grab Double-Digit Gains from This Analyst “Fail”
• Three Game Changers Fueling a Natural Gas Rebound
• Brace Yourself for This $2 Trillion Global Disruption

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