What to Look For in the Dow Today

It's all Facebook (Nasdaq: FB  ) all the time. With no economic news scheduled and no major earnings reports, expect the social network to dominate today's news.

Shares of the hotly anticipated IPO finally begin trading today, after selling at $38 to initial buyers. The offering will bring in $16 billion for the social network, which many expect to lead to more acquisitions. Facebook recently purchased mobile photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion.

Facebook's IPO appeared to be causing a sell-off in other tech stocks yesterday as investors make room for the social network's shares. The Nasdaq (INDEX: ^IXIC  ) , where Facebook shares will be trading, dropped more than 2% yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI  ) fell more than 1.2%, but Dow futures were heading north in early morning trading, up about half a percent.

Asian markets were all down overnight, with the Nikkei dropping 3%, as concerns over the future of the eurozone, highlighted by Moody's downgrade yesterday of 16 Spanish banks, continue to weigh on global markets. The Commerce Department's decision yesterday to impose steep tariffs on solar-panel imports, aimed at counteracting China's subsidies, also promises to stoke the U.S.-China trade war.

European markets were mixed in Friday afternoon trading, as they recovered early losses.

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM  ) continues to be in the spotlight after a recent trading loss ballooned to $3 billion. CEO Jamie Dimon has agreed to testify before Congress as debate in Washington has heated up over financial reform. Shares of the bank were nearly up a percent in pre-market trading, bouncing back from a 4% loss yesterday.

News sources also reported Thursday that Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) plans to cut 25,000 to 30,000 jobs, or up to 9% of its workforce. The job cuts are the latest bit of bad news for the PC maker, which has been unable to find a foothold in the booming mobile market. The company could announce the layoffs during its quarterly report next Wednesday. CEO Meg Whitman has said she wants to pump more money into research and development and needed to make cuts in other areas to do so. HP shares were up 1% in pre-market trading.

Don't believe the hype
Facebook shares are all the rage, but it turns out the hot Internet stock doesn't come without weaknesses. Despite the social network's 900 million members, almost all of its revenue comes from advertising, and the growth opportunity there appears to be smaller than investors had hoped for. Lucky for you, our experts have found another Internet company that has multiple revenue streams and is growing faster than Facebook. Get the details on this hot stock in our brand-new special free report: "Forget Facebook -- Here's the Tech IPO You Should Be Buying." Get your copy.