The Market In 5 Minutes

IN THE NEWS

BENZINGA

Stock market sentiment is in a quandary: Optimism is high because of President Donald Trump’s promise to invest in infrastructure and overhaul the tax code. However, the GOP says those and other policy issues are on hold until Congress deals with the seemingly intractable issue of swapping out the healthcare system: Link

With a record-setting opening weekend, “Beauty and the Beast” is now at the core of two prominent Walt Disney Co DIS eras: Link

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said publicly for the first time Monday that the agency is investigating whether members of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign collaborated with the Russian government to influence the presidential election: Link

SoftBank Group Corp. scrapped a planned $100 million investment in a smartphone startup founded by the creator of Alphabet Inc GOOGL's Android software, partly because of the Japanese investor’s increasingly close relationship with Apple Inc. AAPL, according to people familiar with the matter: Link

High-speed trading gained notoriety after Michael Lewis’s 2014 book “Flash Boys.” These days, the industry is struggling with another problem: It is having trouble making money: Link

REUTERS

Google vowed on Tuesday to police its websites better by ramping up staff numbers and overhauling its policies after several companies deserted the internet giant for failing to keep their adverts off hate-filled videos: Link

Food maker General Mills, Inc. GIS reported a bigger-than-expected 5.2 percent fall in quarterly sales on Tuesday, hurt by weak sales of yogurt and baking products in the United States, its biggest market: Link

BLOOMBERG

Neil Gorsuch promised to be a "neutral and independent" U.S. Supreme Court justice. So far Senate Democrats don’t seem convinced: Link

In recent months, Apple has made a number of concessions to developers. The company has built analytical tools that provide insights into how apps are used and monetized, sped up the approval process for new ones, halved its take for many transactions in the App Store and made it easier for developers to sell subscriptions: Link

THE NEW YORK TIMES

The purchase of Jet, an upstart e-commerce venture, for $3.3 billion last summer was meant to give Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT, the nation’s largest retailer, a way to transform its online retail strategy: Link

ECONOMIC DATA

• USA Redbook (YoY) for Mar 17 1.20% vs 1.30% Prior; Redbook (MoM) for Mar 17 -0.60% vs -0.60% Prior
• CAN Core Retail Sales (MoM) for Jan 1.70% vs 1.10% consensus estimate. The prior reading was -0.30%.
• Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George is set to speak in Washington, D.C. at 12:00 p.m. ET.
• The Treasury is set to auction 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak in Richmond, Va. at 6:00 p.m. ET.
• Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren is set to speak in Bali, Indonesia at 9:45 p.m. ET.

ANALYST RATINGS

• BTIG Research upgraded Facebook FB from Neutral to Buy
• William Blair upgraded Carnival Corp CCL from Market Perform to Outperform
• Jefferies upgraded Motorola Solutions Inc MSI from Hold to Buy
• BMO Capital downgraded Sprouts Farmers Market SFM from Outperform to Market Perform
• Bernstein downgraded General Mills from Market Perform to Underperform
• Baird downgraded Mednax MD from Outperform to Neutral

This is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day — it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. To get the full version of this note every morning, click here or email minutes@benzinga.com.