Right now, earnings are one of the most widely discussed topics on the financial markets. Yesterday, Apple reported a 9% increase in revenue, which was better than what investors had expected. This growth is likely to boost the company’s shares to new highs today when the US stock market opens.
Today a number of other major companies will reveal their latest earnings reports. These include Tesla, Facebook, Paypal, AT&T, McDonald’s, and many more. In other words, now will be a great time to pay attention to the reports and consider trading the stocks of these companies.
Furthermore, today is the second and last day of the Federal Reserve’s January meeting. No change in the interest rate is expected, but this will be confirmed by Jerome Powell’s press conference later in the day.
In the US Senate, rumor has it that the Democrats might be able to summon John Bolton as a witness after all, which could potentially turn the tide against Trump in a way that even partisan loyalty would not be enough to protect him.
Meanwhile, the spread of the Chinese coronavirus continues. Just yesterday, the reported cases were around 4,500, but now they have risen to 6,000, with more than 130 confirmed deaths. Nevertheless, there have also been cases where people recover without significant complications, leading experts to believe this virus is not as dangerous as SARS.
Still, the facts that many businesses remain closed in China, transportation has been limited, and foreign countries are not permitting flights to China at this time, are all weighing heavily on the Chinese economy and will likely be reflected in January’s reports, when those become available.
