Tesla’s Positive Earnings Give Industries A Pre-Market Boost

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Commenting on Tesla’s positive earnings surprise and today’s trading Gorilla Trades strategist Ken Berman said:

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Tesla's Positive Earnings Surprise Gives Industries A Pre-Market Boost

The major indices are all trading slightly lower at midday following a very volatile and morning session on Wall Street. Today's earnings reports were overwhelmingly positive, with the likes of Coca-Cola (KO, +1.8%) and AT&T (T,+6.4%) beating expectations across the board, and thanks also to Tesla's (TSLA, +1.7%) positive earnings surprise from yesterday afternoon, a lot of industries got a pre-market boost. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the highly-anticipated coronavirus stimulus deal is ”almost there” and while Congress will have a hard time passing the bill ahead of the elections, stocks still turned higher in the wake of Mrs. Pelosi’s words.

In economic news, the weekly jobless claims report was much better-than-expected, with new claims plunging below 800,000 for the first time since the beginning of the lockdowns in March. The number of continuing claims dropped by over one million yet again, finally breaching the 10 million level. Existing home sales blew away the consensus estimate as well, coming in at an annualized reading of 6.5 million units, and while the CB Leading Index missed, the domestic economic outlook remains clearly positive.

Market Wrap

Dow: 28,249, + 39 or 0.1%

S&P 500: 3,440 + 5 or 0.1%

Nasdaq: 11,463, - 22 or 0.2%

Russell 2000: 1,618, + 14 or 0.9%

Market breadth has been relatively strong this morning, with advancing issues outnumbering decliners by a 6-to-5 ratio on the NYSE at midday. 24 stocks hit new 52-week lows on the NYSE and the Nasdaq, while 48 stocks hit new 52-week highs. The major indices have been trading around their daily VWAPs (Volume-Weighted Average Price) in a volatile fashion throughout the morning session, pointing to a mixed active afternoon. The key sectors have been diverging substantially in the volatile environment, with the energy, industrial, healthcare, and utilities sectors showing the most promise, but as tech stocks and consumer-related issues have been lagging behind, it’s hard to predict how the afternoon session will pan out. Stay tuned!