Stocks fluctuated as traders parsed results from big banks amid dwindling prospects for a pre-election stimulus deal.
Wells Fargo & Co. slumped on a 56% plunge in profit, while Bank of America Corp. slid amid an increase in trading revenue that was just a fraction of its competitors’ gains. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. rose after posting a surge in fixed-income revenue that pushed earnings per share to a record. Netflix Inc. rallied after some firms boosted their targets for the shares. Concho Resources Inc. soared 12% on a news report that ConocoPhillips is in talks to acquire the company. The dollar fell.
Read: Credit Liquidity Risk Is Rising Thanks to the Boom in Bond ETFs
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said a surge in U.S. coronavirus cases to about 50,000 a day has added uncertainty to the outlook and may discourage businesses from hiring or investing. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have dug into their opposing stances on a pandemic relief, effectively killing off chances for a deal before the Nov. 3 election. With Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin headed to the Middle East next week, further negotiations to reach a deal may be put off.
“With the understanding that stimulus won’t occur before the election, the market continues to grapple with the potential political outcomes,” said Yousef Abbasi, global market strategist at StoneX. “Earnings season continues to come into focus — but it’s been rather tough to draw inspiration from what have generally been noisy/messy figures from mostly financial services firms and banks that have reported thus far.”
Here are some key events coming up:
- Morgan Stanley’s earnings are scheduled for Thursday.
- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson set a deadline of Thursday to thrash out the outline of a European Union trade deal.
- European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde leads off the virtual annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. Through Oct. 18.
- The S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 10:46 a.m. New York time.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed.
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed.
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.2%.
- The euro advanced 0.1% to $1.1755.
- The British pound increased 0.7% to $1.303.
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 0.72%.
- Germany’s 10-year yield dipped two basis points to -0.58%.
- Britain’s 10-year yield decreased two basis points to 0.221%.
- The Bloomberg Commodity Index advanced 0.2%.
- West Texas Intermediate crude increased 1.5% to $40.82 a barrel.
- Gold strengthened 0.9% to $1,907.55 an ounce.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.