Stock Market Today: Market May Trade Subdued and Take a Cue from …

Dow Jones in a Cautious Zone

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) may trade lower in the stock market today as Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day speech brought about more concerns than clarity on the future policies of the Trump administration. His focus on creating jobs and employment in the U.S. may result in strained relationships with other regions in the world and investors would like to wait and watch for the time being.

The DJIA index closed at 19,827.25, up about 0.5%.

The NASDAQ Composite gained 15.25 points to close at 5,555.33.

The S&P 500 index was up 7.62 points and ended the session at 2,271.31.

Materials stocks boosted the indexes besides the string of encouraging earnings reports.

Stocks to Watch Today

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple stock will remain in the limelight following the latest report by Nikkei Asian Review that suggests that its supplier, Foxconn Technology Group, is thinking about the plan to build a display-panel manufacturing facility in the United States in a joint ventogetherture with Apple Inc. that could create up to 50,000 jobs. The chairman and chief executive officer of Foxconn, Terry Gou, said that the facility could cost about $7.0 billion and could create anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 new jobs. (Source: “Foxconn chooses to play the Trump game,” Nikkei Asian Review, January 23, 2017.)

Foxconn produces most of the Apple “iPhones” at its Chinese factories, and the situation seems to have changed a lot since Donald Trump won the presidential elections last November. He has been openly targeting Apple Inc. for manufacturing its devices outside the U.S. However, in a later statement, he also expressed clearly that he would provide a lot of incentives to the company if it built plants in America.

Apple stock closed in the green Friday, at $120.00.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)

IBM announced its quarterly results Thursday and IBM stock closed at $170.55, gaining over two percent. The tech giant posted upbeat results for the fourth quarter, but the revenue continued to decline year-over-year for the 19th straight quarter. However, the strategic imperatives division has grown now to garner more than 40% of IBM’s total revenue, which bodes well for the company’s future.

IBM beat on its top and bottom lines for Q4 of 2016 and issued upbeat earnings guidance for 2017 after Thursday’s market close. For the fourth quarter, the company posted adjusted earnings of $5.01 per share.

The company has turned its focus toward becoming the industry’s leading cognitive solutions and cloud platform company. As more and more companies adopt cloud-based platforms for their businesses, IBM stands to gain on account of this shift. For the full year, IBM announced that cloud revenue increased by 35% to $13.7 billion. IBM also issued an upbeat outlook for 2017.

Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS)

Skyworks Solutions stock skyrocketed 13% Friday and closed at $88.67, as the semiconductors company posted results that surpassed analysts’ estimates. Skyworks supplies chips to Apple Inc. and it beat its guidance for first-quarter adjusted earnings per share. The Q1 revenue was $914.3 million, up 9.4%, and exceeded consensus estimates of $902.7 million.

Liam K. Griffin, president and chief executive officer of Skyworks, said that the exceptional results were fueled by global demand for ubiquitous mobile connectivity and the Internet of Things. He further added that Skyworks Solutions is enabling the next stage of wireless revolution and powering new applications that were unimaginable before.

SWKS stock is likely to benefit from this connectivity mega-trend and investors are optimistic about the prospects of the company.    

Skyworks also announced a $500.0-million stock repurchase program.