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- Will the rally that's stalled after pushing stock indexes close to record levels reverse course on the last day of trading for the week? Stocks fell yesterday as weaker earnings and worries about Europe overshadowed healthier signs for the U.S. economy. The Dow lost 42 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite both fell 3 points.
- International stock markets were mostly higher today, boosted by better-than-expected trade data from China that provided new evidence of an upswing in the world's second-largest economy. Exports rose 25 percent in January from a year earlier, the government reported, while imports soared 28 percent. Benchmark crude rose to near $96 per barrel. The dollar fell against the euro and the yen.
- China's trade picked up and inflation eased in January as a shaky economic recovery gained traction. Analysts said data reported Friday looked promising. Export growth accelerated to 25 percent from the previous month's 14.1 percent. Import growth accelerated to 28 percent, more than quadruple the previous month's 6 percent.
- The Commerce Department releases two reports today. One will look at international trade data for December. The other covers wholesale trade inventories for December.
- With its annual meeting looming and its stock on the decline, Apple is facing a rebellion from an influential investor who wants the company to stop stockpiling cash and give it to shareholders instead. Greenlight Capital said Thursday that it is suing Apple in a New York federal court over the company's proposal to make it more difficult for it to issue preferred stock. Preferred stock is designed primarily as a way for companies to deliver a fixed income to shareholders.
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