Written by Gary
US stock market major indexes soared today (SPY +1.2%) as the corporate earnings reporting season gets under way.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | North and South American markets are broadly higher today with shares in U.S. leading the region. The S&P 500 is up 1.15% while Brazil’s Bovespa is up 0.57% and Mexico’s IPC is up 0.25%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
| Goldman profit slammed by souring WeWork, Uber betsGoldman Sachs Group Inc missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday as it took heavy losses from high-profile investments in WeWork and Uber Technologies and faced up to a weakening global economy. |
| Exclusive: No choice but to invest in oil, Shell CEO saysRoyal Dutch Shell still sees abundant opportunity to make money from oil and gas in coming decades even as investors and governments increase pressure on energy companies over climate change, its chief executive said. |
| Google unveils Pixel 4 phones with radar, more affordable laptopAlphabet Inc’s Google unveiled new Pixel smartphones with higher quality cameras, a radar sensor and faster virtual assistant on Tuesday, but failed to provide enough to set the devices apart from rivals and nix concerns about price. |
| Stocks jump on report Brexit deal may be close, oil slipsStocks in Europe and on Wall Street jumped more than 1% on Tuesday on strong U.S. corporate results and a possible deal to avoid a disorderly British exit from the European Union, while oil prices fell as weak China data kindled global economy fears. |
| Wall Street soars after strong start to earnings seasonWall Street gained 1% on Tuesday as strong earnings from JPMorgan, UnitedHealth and Johnson & Johnson allayed concerns about the fallout from a prolonged U.S.-China trade war on corporate America. |
| UnitedHealth sees 2020 profit above Street target; shares climb 8%UnitedHealth Group Inc on Tuesday provided an optimistic outlook for 2020 profit, saying it expected growth to be at least 13%, which outpaces current Wall Street estimates and sent its shares up as much as 8.6%. |
| Time running out to get off Amazon’s addictive cloud French minister warnsAmazon’s cloud computing is like a “soft drug”, a French minister said on Tuesday, warning that time was running out for Europe to wean itself off the U.S. company’s services. |
| Big banks say U.S. consumers sturdy as businesses quiver with growth fearsQuarterly results from four of the largest U.S. banks on Tuesday showed that American consumers are helping to prop up the economy, even as recession fears have led businesses to pull back on spending and borrowing. |
| London retains global finance throne amid Brexit chaosFrom the pinnacle of the City of London’s largest skyscraper, Stuart Lipton is wagering a $1.2 billion bet that the British capital remains a master of the international financial universe no matter what happens with Brexit. |
| Bank Of America Surges On Report Buffett Seeking To Boost Stake Above 10%Bank Of America Surges On Report Buffett Seeking To Boost Stake Above 10% Back in the summer 2011, when Warren Buffett first invested in Bank of America stock when it was trading in the single digits, he reportedly did so after a “eureka” moment while dreaming in his bathtub. Fast forward to today when Buffett appears to have again been in the bathroom because as Bloomberg reports, the Omaha Octogenarian (who will turn 90 next August), is now seeking Fed permission to increase Berkshire’s stake in Bank of America to more than 10%, a level that typically triggers a regulatory review. According to Bloomberg, Berkshire – which in July disclosed that it had hit that threshold – filed an application with the Fed in recent weeks making a variety of assurances to show that it will passively invest in the bank, according to a copy of the application provided by the regulator. Berkshire œmay decide to purchase additional shares of common stock of Bank of America based on its evaluation of the investment opportunity presented by such purchases, the conglomerate wrote in the filing signed by Buffett, without specifying how many shares it might look to purchase. The news sparked a rally in the stock, which rose as much as 4% on massive volume ahead of earnings. Considering Buffett’s style in recent years, it is safe to assume that the bulk of BofA’s earnings per share will be on the back of stock buybacks, just like Citi and Wells Fargo earlier today. |
| Bolton Opposed Ukraine Investigations; Called Giuliani “A Hand Grenade”Bolton Opposed Ukraine Investigations; Called Giuliani “A Hand Grenade” Former national security adviser John Bolton was ‘so alarmed’ by efforts to encourage Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and 2016 election meddling that he told an aide, Fiona Hill, to alert White House lawyers, according to the New York Times. |
| Buchanan Asks “Is The Interventionists’ Era Over For Good?”Buchanan Asks “Is The Interventionists’ Era Over For Good?” Authored by Pat Buchanan via Buchanan.org, President Donald Trump could have been more deft and diplomatic in how he engineered that immediate pullout from northeastern Syria. |
| POMO Is Back: Here’s What Treasury Bills The Fed Will BuyPOMO Is Back: Here’s What Treasury Bills The Fed Will Buy As it pre-announced last Friday, the Fed will resume QE by purchasing $60billion/month in bills at least until 2Q 2020 starting on October 17. As has been widely discussed, and mocked, already, the Fed highlighted that these purchases were for reserve management only and have “no material implications for the stance of monetary policy”, although how a restoration of financial conditions hit during the greater monetary policy experiment in history is not seen as, well, monetary policy is ludicrous. “QE or Not QE” debate aside (here is Bloomberg opining on which is which), the Fed stated that by the time purchases conclude the level of reserves should be in line with early September levels. In addition, overnight and term repo operations will continue at least through January of next year and are specifically intended to manage funding pressures on a daily basis. As Bank of America noted overnight, this action represents a necessary step that serves “to fix the reserve hole the Fed dug itself into by continuing QT for too long”, because apparently shrinking the balance sheet by $600BN after it was blown out by $4 trillion nearly crashed the banking system. This will also place the Fed back into an “abundant reserve regime”, and represents a rapid shift away from repo operations to permanent balance sheet growth. Finally, it is also a confirmation that the Fed shares the prevailing view that funding pressures were drive … |
| A regulatory squabble poses fresh challenge for IBC resolutionsA regulatory squabble poses fresh challenge for IBC resolutionsEven if the bankers agree on a deal under the ICA, it is not binding on funds. |
| How to check and pay e-challan onlineHow to check and pay e-challan onlineAccording to the MV Act 2019, the penalties for violating traffic rules have increased. |
| Winter is coming to north, so is toxic airWinter is coming to north, so is toxic airQuality of air may worsen in Delhi after a week due to stubble burning & lower temperature. |
| Market Snapshot: Dow rises closer to record on good start to corporate earnings seasonU.S. stocks rise Tuesday as the corporate earnings reporting season gets under way and investors weigh the implications of a partial U.S.-China trade deal. |
| The Margin: Fortnite is back after being sucked into a ‘black hole’ for two daysThe online battle royale game turned a massive upgrade into a viral event that nearly broke its younger fans |
| The Technical Indicator: Charting a bullish technical tilt, Nasdaq ventures atop major resistance (8,060)The major U.S. benchmarks have weathered an October market whipsaw, rising amid potentially consequential mid-month price action, writes Michael Ashbaugh. |
Earnings Summary for Today
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