Stocks opened mixed but the averages all crossed into positive ground in the opening hour of trading. The Dow has continued to be the clear leader, with the Nasdaq lagging. The Dow has been led by the financials, namely JPMorgan (JPM) and American Express (AXP), which have gains of about 1% and 2% near noon. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the trade deficit in goods is expected to have widened in September widened to $64.1B in September from $63.3B in August. Initial jobless claims bounced to a 233,000 in the third week of October, after dropping to the lowest level in 44 years in the prior week. An index of pending home sales was unchanged in September at 106.0 after falling in August to its lowest reading in more than a year. In Europe, the ECB announced its key interest rates will remain unchanged. Also, the central bank said purchases under its asset purchase program will continue at the current monthly pace of EUR60B until the end of the year. From January 2018 the net asset purchases are intended to continue at a monthly pace of EUR30B until the end of September 2018, or beyond, if necessary. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Celgene (CELG) are down 19% after the drugmaker slashed its 2020 sales guidance. This follows last week’s announcement that the biotech company is discontinuing a late-stage Crohn’s treatment trial… Twitter (TWTR) has jumped 18% at midday after the company reported better than expected adjusted earnings and revenue and noted that at the high end of its adjusted EBITDA range for next quarter it would likely be profitable on a GAAP basis. The move higher comes despite the social publishing platform operator acknowledging that it found it has previously been misreporting its count of monthly active users… Ford (F) is up fractionally, but off its best levels of early in the session, after the automaker’s sales and profits topped consensus forecasts… Charter (CHTR) and Comcast (CMCSA) have slid 9% and 1%, respectively, after the cable companies’ earnings reports. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers after reporting earnings were Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD), WWE (WWE), and Spirit Airlines (SAVE), which rallied a respective 20%, 8%, and 9%. Among the notable losers after reporting quarterly results were Oceaneering (OII), Nokia (NOK), and GNC Holdings (GNC), which slipped 20%, 19%, and 11%, respectively. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 81.14, or 0.35%, to 23,410.60, the S&P 500 was up 5.10, or 0.2%, to 2,562.25 and the Nasdaq was unchanged at 6,563.89.
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