1. Airline execs meet Trump: Top aviation executives are heading to the White House on Thursday to meet with President Trump.
The executives are hoping to find a receptive ear as they discuss airport infrastructure, aviation's impact on jobs, air traffic modernization, tax and regulatory reform and a host of other issues.
The chief executives of Delta Air Lines (DAL), United Airlines (UAL), Southwest Airlines (LUV), JetBlue Airways (JBLU) and Alaska Airlines (ALK) are expected to attend. Executives from cargo carriers FedEx (FDX), UPS (UPS) and Atlas Air (AAWW) will also be in attendance.
American Airlines (AAL) CEO Doug Parker is not able to attend due to a scheduling conflict.
2. Anthem deal blocked: A federal judge has blocked Anthem's (ANTX) bid to acquire Cigna (CI). The $54 billion deal would have created the largest health insurer in the U.S.
Anthem and Cigna are the country's second and third largest health insurance providers.
The Department of Justice sued to halt the merger in July, claiming antitrust law violations. The district court judge ruled in agreement with the DOJ on Wednesday.
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3. New records in sight: It looks like it could be another calm day in the markets.
U.S. stock futures are holding steady.
Investors simply don't appear to be ruffled by increased policy uncertainty in Washington. The well-known VIX volatility index is near its lowest level since early 2007. U.S. stock markets are trading near their highest levels ever.
European markets are mostly inching up in early trading on Thursday.
Asian stock markets -- aside from those in Japan and Thailand -- ended the day with decent gains. The Nikkei in Tokyo declined by 0.5% while Thailand's main index dipped 0.3%.
4. Earnings and economics: Coca-Cola (KO), CVS Health (CVS), Dunkin' Brands (DNKN), Twitter (TWTR) and Yum! Brands (YUM) are some of the key firms releasing earnings before the U.S. open.
Expedia (EXPE), Nvidia (NVDA), News Corp. (NWSA) and Yelp (YELP) are set to release earnings after the close.
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5. Coming this week:
Thursday - Twitter (TWTR), Coca-Cola (KO), Expedia (EXPE), Yum! Brands (YUM), Dunkin' Brands (DNKN) earnings
Friday - Renault (RNSDF) earnings
