My top 10 things to watch Wednesday, July 9 1. Wall Street was headed for a higher open today after the S & P 500 incurred back-to-back losses and moved nearly 1% off last week’s record highs. The minutes of the Fed’s June meeting are out this afternoon. 2. The market was still digesting yesterday’s tariff headlines, which included President Donald Trump saying he will double to 50% levies on imported copper and announce “very soon” big pharmaceutical tariffs. 3. Merck has agreed to buy London-based Verona Pharma for $10 billion or $107 per share, a 23% premium to yesterday’s close. The U.S. drug giant gets access to Verona’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease drug. 4. Melius Research said jobs will switch shift more toward “outcomes” that require tons of computing power. The software as a service (SaaS) seat model will “increasingly be disrupted as human tasks adjust.” The analysts said buy Club names Nvidia and Broadcom to capitalize on this shift. 5. Club name Starbucks is fielding offers from nearly 30 firms in China about taking a potential stake in its Chinese operations valued at up to $10 billion. Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has said there’s lots of interest. 6. Barclays raised its price target on Club name Disney to $140 per share from $120 and maintained its overweight buy rating. The analysts think legacy media companies could surprise to the upside. 7. Cowen hiked its price target on Club name Meta Platforms to $800 from $700 and kept its buy rating. The analysts think the Facebook and Instagram parent will beat quarterly estimates. 8. Apple COO Jeff Williams will be retiring later this year. Sabih Khan, senior VP of operations, will take over. Separately, following the success “F1” at the box office, the FT reports that Apple may go for the U.S. broadcast rights of Formula 1. 9. Oppenheimer updated Club name Microsoft to an outperform buy rating from perform, with a $600 price target. The analysts see continued strong Azure cloud growth and AI potential not fully reflected in the stock. 10. Barclays raised its price targets on a host of industrial stocks, including Club names Eaton , GE Vernova, and Honeywell . The analysts kept an equal weight hold on Eaton and overweight buys on GE Vernova and Honeywell. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free (See here for a full list of the stocks at Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
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