JakeNovakNews.com
STOCKS/ECONOMY
-Stock futures are a bit lower after Monday's 250-point gain for the Dow and bigger percentage gains for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. We get the Fed minutes release this afternoon and a read on the service economy in the Mid-Atlantic region of the country later this morning.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is back down to 1.56 percent, with the 2-year yield at 1.52 percent.
-Gold is up slightly to the $1,517 per ounce level after briefly dipping below the $1,500 level overnight. Bitcoin is at the $10,600 level.
EARNINGS SCORECARD
-Home Depot reported better than expected quarterly earnings, but weaker than expected revenues and same-store sales. It also lowered its sales outlook for the full year. But Home Depot shares are still up more than 2 percent in the premarket.
-Chinese search engine company Baidu reported better than expected quarterly profits and revenues. Baidu shares rose 8 percent on the news, but had been down 40% this year going into today's session.
OIL/ENERGY
-U.S. crude prices are flat and at the $56 a barrel level after Monday's rally.
-Gasoline prices are down to $2.60 a gallon, national average.
TAX CUT?
-Published reports say the White House is considering a temporary payroll tax cut, but the Trump administration is already denying those reports.
TRADE WARS
-The Trump administration is giving Huawei another 90-day waiver before a full ban on doing business with the company goes into effect. And another 46 subsidiaries of Huawei are being added to the blacklist.
DEALS/NO DEALS
-Bayer is selling its veterinary drug unit to Elanco Animal Health for $7.6 billion.
TECH PROBES
-State attorneys general in more than 12 states are preparing to launch an antitrust probe into the country's biggest tech companies, including Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple. This would be in addition to the federal antitrust probes those companies are facing.
IRANIAN TANKER WARNINGS
-The U.S. is warning Greece against hosting the Iranian tanker released by Gibraltar last week, saying those who help the vessel would face potential criminal consequences. So far, Greece says it's had no request from Iran to allow the tanker to dock.
U.S. STEEL LAYOFFS
-U.S. Steel says it's temporarily laying off just under 200 workers in Michigan for worker adjustment and retraining. U.S. Steel says it's seeing lower prices and reduced demand.
NUCLEAR BLAST MYSTERY
-The number of Russian nuclear monitoring stations that have gone silent has doubled to four, heightening concerns that Russia is trying to hide evidence of radiation contamination from an explosion at a missile-test site earlier this month.