The Market In 5 Minutes: NAFTA, Trump And Mueller, Jobless Claims Rise

IN THE NEWS

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-mania is spreading rapidly across Wall Street and Main Street, but the legendary Warren Buffett isn't buying into the hype one bit: Link

Music streaming service Spotify may soon be the first blockbuster market debut of 2018: Link

A top official from South Korea said the government is preparing a bill to ban the trading of cryptocurrencies on exchanges, stepping up its efforts to curb speculation: Link $

President Donald Trump on Wednesday declined to commit to a potential meeting with special counsel Robert Mueller, who told the president’s lawyers last month that he may want to interview Mr. Trump soon as part of his investigation into whether Trump associates colluded with Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election: Link $

Canada is increasingly convinced that President Donald Trump will soon announce the United States intends to pull out of NAFTA, two government sources said on Wednesday, sending the Canadian and Mexican currencies lower and hurting stocks: Link

As a presidential candidate, Trump promised to leave the issue of marijuana legalization to the states. Then he chose Jeff Sessions as his attorney general, and it was only a matter of time before that changed: Link

Why hasn’t the Harvey Weinstein effect hit finance?: Link

Hedgie Bill Ackman on Wednesday ripped a page from a discount retailer’s playbook — he put his product on sale: Link

ECONOMIC DATA

• USA Initial Jobless Claims for Jan 5 261.0K vs 246.0K Est; Prior 250.0K. Continuing Claims for Dec 29 1.87M vs 1.92M Est; Prior Revised from 1.91M to 1.90M
• USA PPI (MoM) for Dec -0.10% vs 0.20% Est; Prior 0.40%. Core PPI (MoM) for Dec -0.10% vs 0.20% Est; Prior 0.30%
• The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury is set to auction 30-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.
• The U.S. Treasury budget report for December will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.
• New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley is set to speak in New York at 3:30 p.m. ET.
• Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

ANALYST RATINGS

• Daiwa upgraded Union Pacific UNP from Neutral to Outperform
• Cowen upgraded VMware VMW from Market Perform to Outperform
• KeyBanc downgraded Akamai Technologies AKAM from Sector Weight to Underweight
• Cowen downgraded Citrix Systems CTXS from Outperform to Market Perform

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.