As the Fed spreads its dovish wings, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury dropped below 2% overnight for the first time since November 2016. The FOMC left interest rates unchanged at its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, dropped the word "patient" from its statement and said it would "act as appropriate" to sustain the economy.  Free money for everyone.  (Bloomberg)

The latest high-profile company to go public in 2019 is Slack Technologies, which will begin trading this morning on the NYSE through a direct listing. The method allows a firm to simply float its existing stock onto a public exchange. Valued at about $15.7B, the NYSE has set a reference price for Slack at $26/share, which will be used by market makers to build an order book to open trading. More firms may follow suit if the direct scheme is successful, with the workplace-messaging app being only the second big tech company after Spotify to bypass the traditional IPO process. (SA)

In earnings news, business software maker Oracle claimed headway in shifting its applications to the cloud as it reported stronger than expected revenues and earnings in its latest quarter.  Oracle reported revenue of $11.1bn, up 1 per cent from a year before, despite a three percentage point headwind caused by the rise of the US dollar. (FT)

With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor I am Josh Fenili.