It was a light day for news today, and traders waited for the FOMC minutes before geting to work. While there was nothing new in the minutes, it did cause a breif moment of volatility in the markets, Gold and Bonds. After the dust settled the markets closed mixed with the Dow 30 up 31, the S&P 500 up 2 and the Nasdaq 100 down 7. Tomorrow the focus goes back to Crude Oil for the weekly inventory report.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) was a focus in the light news day today as the e-commerce giant announced that it is launching a service with tens of millions of songs you can access on any device for $9.99 a month. Investors noted that this would put serious pressure on Spotify and Apple Music because it would offer the new service for $7.99 a month to its Prime customers and just $3.99 a month if you own the Amazon Echo. That's the voice-activated speaker that answers to the name Alexa and sells for $180. Shares were mildly higher today one the news, gaining 0.37%.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was green again today, marking its seventh straight up day (0.89%). The move yesterday briefly touched new highs on the year and today was a great attempt to hold that strength. Traders continue to get long Apple in light of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 issues, which prompted the South Korean company to cut its operating profit guidance for the third quarter by 33% to $4.6 billion. Shares are now up over 30% since the low set back in May of this year.
Newell Brands (NYSE: NWL) shares added 2.17% today after the consumer products company announced it would sell its tools unit to Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) for $1.95 billion in cash. Newell is divesting its Irwin, Lenox and Hilmor brands as it sheds some of its businesses since the acquisition of Jarden in April. Shares of SWK were also higher today by 2.88% on the news.