Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were suggesting a flat open for Wall Street Wednesday ahead of the release of U.S. growth data and an announcement from the Federal Reserve.

European stocks were trading flat to slightly higher. Asian shares finished higher. Japan's Nikkei surged 2.3% to 11,113.95, its highest closing since late April 2010, as the yen continued to weaken against the U.S. dollar.

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The economic calendar in the U.S. Wednesday includes the ADP employment change report at 8:15 a.m. EST and the advance fourth-quarter report on gross domestic product at 8:30 a.m.

The Fed will make a policy announcement at 2:15 p.m. following a two-day meeting of the central bank.

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U.S. stocks on Tuesday finished mixed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.5% to 13,954 for its highest close since October 2007.

The S&P 500 rose 8 points, or 0.5%, to 1,508. The Nasdaq lost less than a point to 3,153.66.

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Amazon.com (AMZN) said fourth-quarter revenue rose 22% but the online retailer missed Wall Street's bottom-line estimate.



First-quarter guidance from Amazon was weaker than anticipated, with the company forecasting revenue between $15 billion and $16.6 billion. Analysts were expecting $16.85 billion in sales.

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Facebook (FB) is expected to issue its fourth-quarter earnings after the stock market closes on Wednesday and analysts expect the world's biggest social networking company to post profit of 15 cents a share on revenue of $1.51 billion.

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Research In Motion (RIMM) unveils its eagerly anticipated BlackBerry 10 technology on Wednesday.

TheStreet will be live-blogging the announcement beginning at 9:30 a.m.

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Boeing (BA) is expected by Wall Street Wednesday to report fourth-quarter earnings of $1.19 a share on revenue of $22.36 billion.

Boeing's report comes amid an intensifying investigation by U.S. regulators of the lithium-ion batteries used in Boeing's grounded 787 Dreamliners.

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Chesapeake Energy (CSK) CEO Aubrey McClendon is leaving the company he founded 24 years ago amid philosophical differences with the company's new board.

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The European Union on Wednesday confirmed its rejection of a $6.9 billion deal for UPS (UPS) to acquire Dutch delivery company TNT Express.

UPS, the shipping giant, pulled out of the deal earlier this month because of EU objections.

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Toyota (TM) is recalling 907,000 vehicles, mostly Corolla models, around the world for faulty air bags and another 385,000 Lexus IS luxury cars for defective wipers.

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



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