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U.S. stocks moved higher in early Thursday trading, while Treasury yields paused their long monthly acceleration, as investors looked to snap a four-day losing streak on Wall Street on the back of solid corporate earnings and improved risk appetite.
Updated at 10:41 AM EDT
Tesla shares have added around $100 billion in value this morning following the carmaker’s surprisingly impressive third quarter earnings, which included a bold outlook for vehicle deliveries and autonomous driving technologies over the coming year.
“To take a bit of risk here, I do want to give some rough estimate, which I think it’s 20% to 30% vehicle growth next year, notwithstanding negative external events, like if there’s some force majeure events, like some big war breaks out or interest rates go sky high or something like that,” CEO Elon Musk told investors on a conference call late Wednesday.
Tesla shares were marked 16.8% higher in early Thursday trading and changing hand at $249.64 each, a move that boosts the stock’s six-month gain to around 53% and values that company at around $780 billion.
Related: Analysts overhaul Tesla stock price target after earnings blowout
Updated at 9:32 AM EDT
The S&P 500 was marked 14 points, or 0.25% higher in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq rising 44 points, or 0.45%.
The Dow, dragged lower by Boeing and IBM, fell 107 points while the mid-cap Russell 2000 index gained 6 points, or 0.27%.
In the bond market, benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields were holding steady at 4.221% with 2-year notes pegged at 4.053%.
Updated at 8:36 AM EDT
Around 227,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department reported, a smaller-than-expected tally that underscores the ongoing strength of the domestic labor market.
Continued claims, however, nudged higher, to 1.897 million while the four-week average rose to 235,500, an increase of around 2,000 from the prior period.
Stock futures added to gains on the back of the data, with the S&P 500 called 27 points higher and the Nasdaq expected to rise 198 points at the opening bell.
Updated at 8:20 AM EDT
American Airlines (AAL) shares moved lower in heavy premarket volume despite the carrier posting better-than-expected third quarter profits and boosting its full-year outlook.
America said it sees 2024 earnings in the region of $1.35 to $1.60 per share, around 30 cents ahead of its prior forecast, as it expects firmer pricing power amid an uptick in business travel demand.
One overhang to the stock, however, could be tied to the ongoing chaos at Boeing, its aircraft supplier, following the rejection of a key labor contract by union members last night in Seattle.
American Airlines shares were marked 2.34% lower in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $12.50 each.
Updated at 7:20 AM EDT
United Parcel Service (UPS) shares surged in early trading after the world’s biggest parcel delivery group posted stronger-than-expected third quarter earnings while boosting its near-term profit margin outlook.
UPS said it sees modest margin improvement as a result of new e-commerce delivery demand, some of which is linked to new China-based players such as Temu and Shein, after posting September-quarter earnings of $1.76 per share on revenues of $22.14 billion.
UPS shares were last marked 8.6% higher in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $142.72 each.
Stock Market Today
Stocks ended lower again last night, with the S&P 500 falling nearly 1%, as another leg higher in Treasury yield sapped risk appetite and megacap heavyweights Apple (AAPL) and Nvidia (NVDA) pulled on major indices.
Bonds have dictated much of the broader market direction this week, with a key reading of Treasury volatility hitting a year-to-date high as investors worry about the inflationary impact of a victory from either Presidential candidate and worry that America’s $36 trillion debt burden is starting to factor-in to foreign investor calculations.
Benchmark 10-year note yields, which hit a three-month high of 4.26% yesterday, eased to 4.196% in overnight dealing, with 2-year notes falling modestly to 4.053%.
Image source: TheStreet
Some of the pullback was tied to yesterday’s Beige Book, a reading of growth and inflation estimates from Federal Reserve banks across the country, which showed steady gains and moderating price pressures.
“On balance, economic activity was little changed in nearly all Districts since early September, though two Districts reported modest growth,” the Beige Book summary read.
The U.S. dollar index was also moving lower, peeling back from its own three-month high to trade at 104.163 heading into the start of the New York session.
Related: Legendary hedge fund manager sounds alarm on US debt (Here’s why he’s wrong)
On Wall Street, stocks are looking for a boost from both the bond market pullback and stronger-than-expected third quarter earnings from Magnificent 7 peer Tesla (TSLA) , which topped analysts’ forecasts last night while issuing a bullish production and demand forecast.
Shares in the group were last marked 10.9% higher in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $237.01 each.
Related: Tesla stock leaps on solid Q3 earnings, delivery growth outlook
On the flip side, however, Boeing (BA) shares fell 2.55% to $153.05 each, weighing heavily on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, after the planemaker’s machinists’ union voted against a labor contract agreed last weekend.
Futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 are priced for a 24 point opening bell gain, with the Dow called 44 points lower and the Nasdaq getting an early boost of around 146 points.
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In overseas markets, Europe’s Stoxx 600 was marked 0.54% higher in early Frankfurt trading amid the busiest earnings day of the year, with around 10% of the benchmark reporting third quarter updates.
Britain’s FTSE 100, meanwhile, rose 0.67% in London on the back of a stronger-than-expected earnings report from Barclays bank and a broader move higher in global commodity prices.
Overnight in Asia, the region-wide MSCI ex-Japan index was marked 0.62% lower heading into the close of trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% higher to snap a three-session losing streak.
Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks