Stocks opened sharply higher thank to solid earnings reports from several members of the Dow. While the blue chip index has been slowly adding to its gains throughout the morning, pushing the Dow to another new all-time high, the Nasdaq has been lagging as the industrials took center stage. However, the technology sector will begin reporting this week with updates coming Thursday from Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT). ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., Markit’s flash manufacturing index rose 1.4 points to 54.5 in October after edging up 0.3 points to 53.1 in September. The services index rebounded 0.6 points to 55.9 after falling 0.7 points to 55.3 in September. The Richmond Fed manufacturing index fell 7 points to 12 in October, versus the consensus forecast for a reading of 17. COMPANY NEWS: Four of the twelve members of the Dow that are scheduled to post earnings this week reported this morning, with 3M (MMM) and Caterpillar (CAT) the standout winners. Shares of the chemicals and consumer goods conglomerate and the heavy machine maker have risen 7.5% and 4%, respectively, after their “beat and raise” reports. Meanwhile, shares of McDonald’s (MCD) are up about 1% following the fast food giant’s earnings report. The laggard in the group has been United Technologies (UTX), which has slid 1% despite its own beat and raise… General Motors (MG) shares have risen over 2% after the automaker’s sales and profits topped consensus expectations. MAJOR MOVERS: Among notable companies up after earnings were Polaris Industries (PII), which rose 13%, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), which gained 5% and Corning (GLW), which jumped nearly 7%. Some noteworthy losers after reporting earnings were Lockheed Martin (LMT), which slid 3%, Infosys (INFY), which fell 4% and Novartis (NVS), which dipped 3%. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 197.89, or 0.85%, to 23,471.85, the Nasdaq was up 17.70, or 0.27%, to 6,604.52 and the S&P 500 was up 5.53, or 0.22%, to 2,570.51.
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