GM unveils a new robot taxi, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was hacked, President Donald Trump goes after the Federal Reserve again plus stocks to watch today in the Money and Markets Wall Street Wake-Up.
The Market Open
U.S. markets were up following Wednesday’s open.
As of 10:30 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 116 points, or 0.4% to 29,312. The S&P 500 was up 0.5% while the Nasdaq was up 0.7%.
The Opening Bell
Trump continued to hammer on the Fed on Wednesday in Davos.
He told CNBC at the World Economic Forum that U.S. economic growth could be as high as 4% “if it weren’t for the lingering effect of Federal Reserve rate hikes.”
“That was a big blip that should not have taken place. It should not have happened. But it’s one of those things. But we had Boeing. We had the big strike with General Motors. We had things happen that are very unusual to happen,” Trump explained to CNBC’s Joe Kernen in an interview.
He added the stock market would also be higher if interest rates had not been raised so quickly before three rate cuts in 2019.
Stocks to Watch Today
IBM Inc. (NYSE: IBM) — The technology company reported better earnings and revenue than analysts projected. As a result, shares were up 4.5% in premarket trading Wednesday.
Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) — Shares of the streaming service was up 1.7% in Wednesday premarket trading after it reported adding more than 1 million more subscribers than analysts projected.
Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) — The electric automaker crossed over the $100 billion market cap threshold in after-hours trading. Shares were already up 5.1% in premarket trading Wednesday.
In the News
General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) and its autonomous car division, Cruise, unveiled a robot taxi called the Cruise Origin.
The company said the taxi will be cheaper than taking a regular cab, using a ride-hailing service or even driving.
The Origin has no steering wheel and seats six.
Shares of GM were up 0.8% in premarket trading Wednesday.
Asian Stocks Recover From Losses Sparked by Coronavirus Outbreak
On Wednesday, Asian markets recovered some of their losses from Tuesday’s report of a coronavirus outbreak in China, according to CNN Business.
The Shanghai Composite was up 0.4% after falling more than 1% earlier in the day while Hong Kong’s Heng Seng Index jumped 1.1% after posting its worst day in five months.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.2% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 moved up 0.6%.
Saudi Crown Prince Hacked Jeff Bezos’s Phone, Analysis Suggests
Sourced told Bloomberg that Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos’s phone was hacked during an exchange with Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman on WhatsApp.
Investigators found digital evidence suggesting the exchange contained code that led to the breach of the phone. Forensic analysis showed “with moderately high confidence” that bin Salman’s WhatsApp account was involved.
Other Morning Reads
Pot, Meet Kettle: Hillary Blasts Bernie as ‘Career Politician Nobody Likes’ (Money and Markets)
New Low-Cost iPhone to Enter Mass Production in February (Bloomberg)
What is Quantitative Easing? Explaining Open Market Expansion (Money and Markets)
Earnings Report
Here are the companies releasing earnings reports today:
Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY)
Citrix Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS)
Commerce Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: CBSH)
Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI)
Raymond James Financial Inc. (NYSE: RJF)
Chart of the Day
A recent Gallop survey found the partisan divide in presidential politics hit an all-time high.
The study showed 89% of Republicans approve of President Donald Trump’s job performance in office while only 7% of Democrats approve. It is the biggest gap between approval ratings in history.
Check back each morning before the opening bell for stocks to watch today with the Wall Street Wake-Up, here on Money and Markets.