U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Higher As Traders React To Inflation Data, Bank Earnings

Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Friday, with the major averages more than offsetting the modest losses posted in the previous session. With the upward move, the Dow and the S&P 500 have reached new record intraday highs.

Currently, the Dow is up 303.92 points or 0.7 percent at 42,758.04 and the S&P 500 is up 30.24 points or 0.5 percent at 5,810.29. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is posting a more modest gain, up 43.64 points or 0.2 percent at 18,325.69.

The strength on Wall Street partly reflects a positive reaction to a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. were unexpectedly unchanged in September.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand came in flat in September after rising by 0.2 percent in August. Economists had expected producer prices to inch up by 0.1 percent.

The report also said the annual rate of growth by producer prices slowed to 1.8 percent in September from an upwardly revised 1.9 percent in August.

Economists had expected the annual rate of producer price growth to dip to 1.6 percent from the 1.7 percent originally reported for the previous month.

“After an upside surprise from the September CPI report, producer prices came in below expectations and provide support for a 25bps rate cut in November,” said Matthew Martin, Senior U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

Traders have also reacted positively to earnings news from big-name banks, with shares of Wells Fargo (WFC) surging by 5.6 percent after the company reported better than expected third quarter earnings.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has also jumped by 4.3 percent after reporting third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Meanwhile, a steep drop by shares of Tesla (TSLA) is limiting the upside for the Nasdaq, with the electric vehicle maker plunging by 7.5 percent amid a negative reaction to its long-awaited robotaxi event.

Sector News

Banking stocks are seeing substantial strength on the upbeat earnings news from Wells Fargo and JPMorgan, driving the KBW Bank Index up by 3.1 percent to its highest intraday level in over two years.

Significant strength is also visible among transportation stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

Brokerage stocks are also seeing considerable strength on the day, with the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index climbing by 1.7 percent.

Networking, biotechnology and computer hardware stocks have also moved to the upside, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 2.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside over the course of the session. The German DAX Index is up by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction after trending lower over the past several sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by less than a basis point at 4.088 percent.

Business News