10 things you need to know before the opening bell
The Fed holds at Yellen's last meeting, says it sees a pickup in inflation. The Federal Open Market Committee held its key interest rate in a range between 1.25% and 1.50% and said it expects inflation to reach the central bank's 2% target "over the medium term."
The 10-year is at its highest level in almost 4 years. The US 10-year yield hit 2.75% following Wednesday's Fed meeting, making for the highest print since April 2014.
The bond market is creating huge problems for stocks - and investors don't realize how bad it's gotten. An indicator designed to track the speed of credit deterioration flashed a sell signal late last week, according to Leuthold Group.
Bitcoin drops below $10,000. The cryptocurrency trades down about 7% near $9,485 a coin, and is flirting with its lowest close since around Thanksgiving.
Facebook says its users are spending a lot less time on the platform. The social media company earned an adjusted $2.21 a share on revenue of $12.78 billion, and said the amount of time users are spending on the site declined by a whopping 50 million hours a day.
Microsoft beats. The tech giant earned an adjusted $0.96 a share on revenue of $28.92 billion, but said a one-time charge of $13.8 billion related to the tax bill caused a GAAP loss of $0.82 a share.
David Einhorn has gotten off to a rough start in 2018. The hedge fund billionaire's Greenlight Capital (Gold) fund fell 6% in January, while the S&P 500 rose 4.75%, according to a client update seen by Business Insider.
Stock markets around the world are mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei (+1.68%) led the way in Asia and France's CAC (+0.42%) is out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open little changed near 2,826.
Earnings reports keep coming. Alibaba, CME Group, Ferrari, Mastercard, and UPS are among the names reporting ahead of the opening bell while Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and GoPro release their quarterly results after markets close.
US economic data is heavy. Nonfarm productivity and initial claims will both be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before Markit US Manufacturing PMI crosses the wires at 9:45 a.m. ET. Additionally, ISM Manufacturing and construction spending are due out at 10 a.m. ET and US auto sales will drop throughout the day.