Good Morning!

FOMC Rate Decision at 2:15 p.m. Eastern ... High Gas Prices Limit Auto Sales ... ADP Employment Report Suggests Job Gains ... Economy Expanded At Same 0.6% Rate in Q1 as Q4 ... Treasuries Fall on Positive Economic, Jobs Data ... Procter, GM Beat Estimates ... Time Warner to Split Off Cable Division ...  Precious Metals Lower ... Price Softness Lowers Profits, Revnues at Garmin

Asian stocks down ... European stocks down ... The dollar is moving higher against the Euro, Japanese yen ... And the futures are trending higher in the hour before the bell.

TradingMarkets 5 Business Stories You Need to Know

FOMC Decision: Quarter Point Or Bust? - Forbes
The Federal Reserve Board's Open Market Committee announces its decision on its Fed funds rate this afternoon, with analysts expecting a modest cut and language suggesting that further rate cuts may be unlikely.

Earnings Double at Mastercard - Chicago Tribune
Increased use of its credit cards helped Mastercard realize double profts for the first quarter, the company reported yesterday.

The End of Easy Money? - DailyFX
DailyFX's chief currency strategest Kathy Lien weighs in on why the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate cutting policy needs to stop...

Third Quarter Profits Up at Procter & Gamble - Bloomberg
Cost controls and revenues from grooming products helped boost the bottom line of this leading personal products company.

GM Reports $3.25 BN Loss in First Quarter - Bloomberg
Massive losses notwithstanding, General Motors managed to beat analyst expectations due to strong sales overseas.

For more stories as they happen, go to our Breaking News section.

TradingMarkets 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Today

Here are 7 stocks for traders for today from TradingMarkets.com:

• Visa (V | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) rose more than 6% after reporting Q2 earnings of $0.52, beating the consensus estimate by $0.07.
  
  
• Shares of MasterCard (MA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) surged more than 12% after the company delivered much better than expected earnings.
  
  
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected the Merck's (MRK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) application for a new drug. MRK lost more than 10%.
  
  
• After the close, Express Scripts (ESRX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported earnings of $0.70, beating estimates by $0.03.
  
  
• Flextronics (FLEX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) also beat estimates by $0.03 per share.
  
  
• Before the market open, Procter & Gamble (PG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported EPS of $0.82.
  

  General Motors (GM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported a quarterly loss of $5.74 per share.

  
  

For a list of today's highest PowerRating stocks, click here.

TradingMarkets 5 PowerRatings Stocks for Today

TradingMarkets Tracking the Wizards

How to Avoid Trade Taxes Using an IRA - TradingMarkets
TradingMarkets contributor Dave Goodboy highlights some of the potential tax benefits of trading in your Individual Retirement Account or IRA.

Trading is a Game of Probability - TradingMarkets
Long-time trader and TradingMarkets co-founder Kevin Haggerty helps traders see the market the way the pros do in the hours leading up to the FOMC rate decision later today.

Put Options at Work: A Trader's Guide - TradingMarkets
Thinking about making a bet against this overbought stock market?  Trader and TradingMarkets contributor John Emery provides a basic options tutorial on how to use put options in anticipation of lower prices.

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