Wall Street eyes Fed minutes; Target looks ready for holidays; Amazon's Black Friday blowout

Wall Street is treading carefully this morning as investors wait to see if the minutes from the Fed's last meeting will reveal the central bank is finally ready to pull the trigger on interest rates next month.

Retail results

Target (TGT) raised its outlook for the year after it reported earnings per share that came in right in line with forecasts, while revenue beat estimates. Sales increased 2% from year earlier as its merchandise changes lured in customers and more people shopped online.  

Lowe's (LOW) banged out a beat on both its top and bottom lines for the third quarter. Revenue rose 5% from a year earlier as an improvement in the housing market helped boost same-store sales growth.

Staples (SPLS) posted earnings per share that matched analysts' estimates, but revenue missed forecasts falling 6% from a year ago amid competition from online rivals, such as Amazon (AMZN). Staples also said it expects sales in its fourth quarter to decrease from the same period a year earlier.  

 Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App

Apple upgraded

Apple (AAPL) is in focus after Goldman Sachs added the stock to its conviction buy list with a $163 price target, which is 43% higher than yesterday's closing price. Goldman noted that the stock is undervalued by the market as Apple becomes more a service company than a hardware company.  

Citrix Systems (CTXS), the cloud software maker plans to spin off its GoTo products into a separate publicly-traded company amid pressure from activist hedge fund Elliott Management. Citrix will also eliminate about 1,000 jobs, more than 10% of its workforce.  

Norfolk Southern (NSC) confirmed it received an unsolicited $28.4 billion takeover offer from Canadian Pacific Railway. However, the U.S. railroad operator didn't sound too impressed about the offer, calling it a "low-premium” and warning it would face significant regulatory hurdles.

Square to price IPO

And now a test for tech’s "unicorns." Mobile payments startup Square is pricing its IPO tonight in anticipation of trading tomorrow. As a tech unicorn, or private company worth over $1 billion, many investors are keen to see where Square prices as the company seeks a valuation of over $4 billion.

Regulators are focusing on sky-high valuations. The Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC is examining whether U.S. mutual funds have the proper procedures in place to accurately price shares of private technology companies like Uber and Snapchat. Accurate pricing of securities is fundamental to the mutual-fund business, and millions of investors rely on precise valuations to figure out how much their holdings are worth.

Amazon ups Black Friday deals

Finally - while some retailers are pumping the brakes on Black Friday, Amazon is going full throttle. The world’s largest online retailer just announced that starting this Friday and running through Thanksgiving, Amazon will be launching new Black Friday deals every 5 minutes. Last year it was every 10 minutes.