The Market In 5 Minutes: Tax Cuts, Trump, iPhones, Blockchain And Iced Tea

IN THE NEWS

Cryptocurrency is a libertarian's delight: Link

Want your stock to rally? Just mention bitcoin or blockchain: Link

Long Island Iced Tea Corp LTEA soared higher by more than 300 percent ahead of Thursday's market open after the maker of non-alcoholic ready-to-drink iced tea, said it will rebrand its business to focus on the "exploration of and investment in opportunities that leverage the benefits of blockchain technology.": Link

FedEx Corporation FDX hit a new all-time high of $253.24 after the company handily exceeded Wall Street's expectations in its fiscal second quarter earnings report: Link

Congress gave final approval Wednesday to a $1.5 trillion tax cut, delivering a major victory for President Donald Trump and GOP leaders after nearly a year in political control of the capital: Link

Apple Inc. AAPL, facing questions from users and tech analysts about reduced performance in older iPhones, acknowledged Wednesday that its latest software curtails the computing power of some models to prevent unexpected shutdowns: Link

Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are working to build support to temporarily extend the National Security Agency’s expiring internet surveillance program by tucking it into a stop-gap funding measure, lawmakers said: Link

Factories from America’s Rust Belt to Germany’s Ruhr region to Japan’s Aichi prefecture are revving up production lines in a unified acceleration not seen in years: Link

Computers crashing, investors frozen out of markets and a heightened risk of fat finger mistakes. That’s the worst-case scenario when the biggest change to European rules for the investment industry in a decade finally come into effect next month: Link

Wall Street hates it when President Trump gets into trouble. Then it should be happy right now: Link

ECONOMIC DATA

• US GDP (QoQ) for Q3 3.20% vs 3.30% Est; Prior 3.30%
• Initial Jobless Claims for Dec 15 245.0K vs 231.0K Est; Prior 225.0K. Continuing Claims for Dec 8 1.92M vs 1.90M Est; Prior 1.89M
• Philly Fed Prices for Dec 25.40 vs 39.00 Prior; Philly Fed Business Outlook for Dec 53.50 vs 50.10 Prior
• Chicago Fed National Activity Index for Nov 0.15 vs 0.65 Prior
• The FHFA House Price Index for October is schedule for release at 9:00 a.m. ET.
• The index of leading economic indicators for November will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
• The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
• Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

ANALYST RATINGS

• Buckingham upgraded JPMorgan JPM from Neutral to Buy
• Buckingham upgraded Wells Fargo WFC from Neutral to Buy
• Wedbush upgraded Regions Financial RF from Neutral to Outperform
• Buckhingham downgraded Lazard LAZ from Buy to Neutral
• Loop Capital downgraded Twenty-First Century Fox FOXA from Hold to Sell
• Jefferies downgraded Axovant AXON from Buy to Hold

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.