U.S. Stocks Remain Mostly Positive In Mid-Day Trading
After moving to the upside early in the session, stocks remain mostly positive in mid-day trading on Tuesday. The major averages are extending a recent upward trend, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record intraday highs.
Currently, the major averages are off their highs of the session but still firmly positive. The Dow is up 123.06 points or 0.3 percent at 35,864.21, the Nasdaq is up 85.58 points or 0.6 percent at 15,312.29 and the S&P 500 is up 23.01 points or 0.5 percent at 4,589.49.
The markets continue to benefit from a largely positive reaction to the latest batch of earnings news from several big-name companies.
Shares of UPS (UPS) have moved sharply higher after the delivery giant reported third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
General Electric (GE) has also moved to the upside after reporting better than expected third quarter earnings and raising its full-year guidance.
On the other hand, shares of Facebook (FB) have moved lower after the social media giant reported third quarter earnings that beat expectations but its revenues came in below estimates.
Positive sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to a report from the Commerce Department showing new home sales in the U.S. skyrocketed in the month of September.
The report said new home sales soared by 14.0 percent to an annual rate of 800,000 in September after falling by 1.4 percent to a downwardly revised rate of 702,000 in August.
Economists had expected new home sales to jump by 2.7 percent to an annual rate of 760,000 from the 740,000 originally reported for the previous month.
A separate report from the Conference Board showed consumer confidence reversed a three-month downward trend in October amid easing concerns about the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index climbed to 113.8 in October from an upwardly revised 109.8 in September.
The rebound surprised economists, who had expected the consumer confidence index to edge down to 109.0 from the 109.3 originally reported for the previous month.
Sector News
Despite the advance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors continue to show only modest moves in mid-day trading.
Oil service stocks have shown a notable move to the upside, however, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index climbing by 1.1 percent.
The strength among oil service stocks comes as the price of crude oil for November delivery is rising $0.66 to $84.42 a barrel.
Some strength is also visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 1 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.
On the other hand, tobacco stocks have moved sharply lower on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index down by 2.4 percent.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 1.8 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1 percent, the French CAC 40 and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index both advanced by 0.8 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction over the course of the session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 1.636 percent.
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