JakeNovakNews.com
STOCKS/ECONOMY
-Stock futures are higher after Thursday's 267-point gain for the Dow and similar percentage gains for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, all representing all-time closing highs. We get housing starts and building permits data later this morning, along with industrial production numbers and the consumer sentiment report.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is up to 1.81 percent, with the 2-year yield 25 basis points behind at 1.56 percent.
-Gold is up to the $1,556 per ounce level. Bitcoin is up to the $8,900 level.
-China's government reported that its official GDP growth for 2019 was 6.1 percent, its weakest growth in 29 years. But that number was expected and China's Shanghai stock index closed slightly higher in overnight trading.
OIL/ENERGY
-U.S. crude prices are higher and at the $58 a barrel level.
-Gasoline prices are at $2.56 a gallon, national average.
TECH TITANS
-Google parent Alphabet has become the fourth U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion valuation.
RETAIL WARS
-Gap has announced that it's no longer going to spin off Old Navy as a separate stock. The news is sending Gap shares 5.5 percent higher in the premarket after it gained 3.8 percent at the close Thursday. Gap shares are still down 38 percent from where they were in March of last year.
BOND OFFER
-The U.S. Treasury will issue a new 20-year bond sometime in the first half of this year. The offering is made necessary due to rising budget deficits. The Treasury settled on the 20-year bond after rejecting plans for 50-year and 100-year bonds.
COFFEE TIME
-Starbucks says it plans to open or remodel 85 stores in poorer rural and urban neighborhoods by 2025.