The stock markets in the United States ended the week higher amid positive corporate earnings while the dollar weakened due a report that a doctor in New York was confirmed positive for Ebola. The doctor returned from his humanitarian work in West Africa.
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Since October 16, the value of global equities increased by $1.8 trillion driven by speculations that central banks will maintain stimulus. St. Louis Federal Reserve bank President James Bullard recently stated that policy makers should consider delaying the end of the bond-buying program. The Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) is scheduled to meet next week.
In a telephone interview with Bloomberg, Mark Spellman, a portfolio manager at Alpine Funds commented, “Earnings have been very good for the most part. I think a large part of this market rise since the decline has been on the idea the Fed will be here to protect you.”
Data compiled by Bloomberg showed that nearly 80% of companies in the S&P 500 reported quarterly earnings that beat the consensus estimates while 60% posted better than expected sales.
[drizzle]U.S. Markets
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) – 16,805.41 (+0.76%)
- S&P 500- 1,964.58 (+0.71%)
- NASDAQ- 4,483.72 (+0.69%)
- Russell 2000- 1,118.82 (+0.21%)
European Markets
- EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR- 3,030.37 (-0.46%)
- FTSE 100 Index- 6,388.73 (-0.47%)
- Deutsche Borse AG German Stock Index DAX- 8,987.80 (-0.66%)
Asia-Pacific Markets
- Nikkei 225- 15,291.64 (+1.01%)
- Hong Kong Hang Seng Index- 23,302.20 (-0.13%)
- Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index- 2,390.71 (-0.22%)
Stocks in Focus
The stock price of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) plummeted more than 8% to $287.06 per share after reporting financial results for the third quarter and issuing holiday sales forecast the missed the estimates of Wall Street analyst. The e-commerce giant lost more than $10 billion in market value today.
The shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) gained more than 2% to $46.13 per share after posting better than expected quarterly revenue. The software giant said its revenue increased 25% to $23.2 billion compared with the $22.02 billion consensus estimate.
Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) climbed more than 2% to $85.16 per share after disclosing its plan to sell its Duracell battery unit. The company reported quarterly earnings in line with the consensus estimates of Wall Street analysts.
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