STOCKS GRIND HIGHER: Here's what you need to know

Reuters/David W Cerny

If you're a small company that investors usually overlook, a recent trend has been to pivot the company to focus on the blockchain. Companies that have done so tend to see their stocks skyrocket as soon as investors find out about the pivot, drawing comparisons to the dot-com bubble.

Each day this week a company's stock has skyrocketed because of some sort of blockchain pivot. On Thursday, there were two such companies. The World Poker Fund said it was acquiring a cryptocurrency wallet company, causing its stock skyrocket more than 100%. Additionally, The Long Island Ice Tea company changed its name to Long Blockchain Corp. and saw a 400% bump.

The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all rose on Thursday.

Here's the scoreboard:

• Dow: 24,799.40, +71.45, (+0.25%)
• S&P 500: 2,689.14, +9.89, (+0.33%)
• Nasdaq: 6,967.27, +6.44, (+0.09%)
• US 10-year yield: 2.50%, +0.03
• WTI crude oil: $58.22, +0.19, (+0.33%)

1. A US financial watchdog is warning investors about crypto 'pump and dump' schemes. FINRA, the US financial regulator, put out an alert on Thursday to warn investors.
2. US GDP revised slightly lower on weaker consumer spending. The Commerce Department bumped down third-quarter gross domestic product in a third estimate released Thursday.
3. An econ professor turned small-business owner breaks down his 3 big problems with the GOP tax plan. Tim Wulf, a Jimmy John's franchisee, says the Republican tax plan doesn't help small-business owners.
4. Trump may not sign the tax bill until 2018 to avoid a Medicare disaster. Trump may delay the signing of the tax bill until January 3, due to the PAYGO (Pay As You Go) provision.
5. The Feds say they just blew up a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme aimed at thousands of elderly people in Florida. The SEC filed charges against Robert H. Shapiro, alleging that he bilked investors out of $1.2 billion.

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