By Stocks were mixed Tuesday morning as traders assessed the latest earnings, though several results before the bell helped strike a positive tone in early trading.
A trio of Wall Street banks — Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America — all topped third-quarter estimates, potentially giving more firepower to this week’s rally.
Stocks notched a winning session on Monday that drove the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average to record closing highs. Estimate-beating reports from JPMorgan and Wells Fargo last week are also helping drive bullish momentum, though gains were more muted as trade kicked off on Tuesday.
International oil prices were down sharply, with Brent crude falling 4.27% to $74.15.
Though Middle Eastern tensions sparked a rush in oil prices this month, the market’s depreciation follows reports that Israel will limit its retaliation against an earlier Iranian missile strike.
While earnings will be this week’s focal point, investors will also watch for September’s retail sales and initial jobless claims to release on Thursday. Among Fed commentary, governor Adriana Kugler and president Mary Daly will speak on Tuesday.
Here’s where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Tuesday:
- S&P 500: 5,864.41, up 0.08%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 42,791.76, down 0.63% (-273.46 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 18,534.01, up 0.14%
Here’s what else is going on:
- Financial stocks are being woefully underappreciated by investors, Morgan Stanley says.
- Risk of collapse looms as markets are the most fragile in 20 years, says “Black Swan” author Nassim Taleb.
- The US risks being caught off-guard by a recession, Paul Dietrich says.
- Fed Governor Waller wants “more caution” on Fed rate cuts as economic data stays hot.
- The stock market is overvalued by 8%, but Piper Sandler says that’s no reason to sell.
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
- West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 4.19% to $70.73 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 3.92% to $74.41 a barrel.
- Gold was nearly flat at $2,666.4 an ounce.
- The 10-year Treasury yield slid two basis points to 4.049%.
- Bitcoin was inched 0.07% lower to $65,918.
