Noor Trends News, Technical Analysis, Educational Tools and Recommendations
The U. S. session witnessed no significant developments in terms of economic data. Positive corporate earning posts continued to back Wall Street and benchmark indexes.
Wall Street cheered solid earnings from several health care companies. Abbott Laboratories for medical devices and drugs rose 3.6% beating Q3 estimates. Health insurer Anthem rose 7.2% reporting strong financial results.
The improvement in risk appetite was also negatively affected by the improvement in corporate earnings exceeding expectations.
Gold has reaped considerable gains benefiting from the weaker USD in addition to several factors including the accelerated inflation-related concerns over British inflation data, which reminded the markets of the huge surges in consumer and producer prices around the world leading to fresh increases of the precious metal that investors resort to in the markets as a safe haven against the impact of inflation.
A top Federal Reserve official said he expected elevated inflation pressures to decline without requiring a more aggressive response by the central bank next year.Fed Governor Randal Quarles says he is watching for signs that higher demand will keep prices elevated even after bottlenecks abate, but he warned of growing risks to that forecast, including from additional government spending being contemplated by the Biden administration.
The U.S. inflation rate reached a 13-year high recently, triggering a debate about whether the country is entering an inflationary period similar to the 1970s. WSJ’s Jon Hilsenrath looks at what consumers can expect next.
Economic Data
Commercial crude oil inventories in the US fell by 0.4 million barrels in the week ending October 15. The U. S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly report was out on Wednesday. This reading comes in much lower than the market’s expectation for an inventory build of 1.8 million barrels.
Crude oil prices tipped higher after the weekly report had been published. WTI crude oil touched daily low of $80.77 per barrel, earlier in the session, was last seen trading at $82.45, where it was still down by 0.7% during the day’s session.
Fed’s Beige Book is a region by region compilation of economic information. In its latest edition issued Wednesday, Fed reported that several districts noted that growth overall had cooled during the September through October period that the report covers.
Price pressures also stemmed from increased transportation and labor constraints, the Fed said, with the cost of steel, electronic components and freight rising rapidly.
“Several districts noted that the pace of growth slowed this period, constrained by supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and uncertainty around the delta variant of COVID-19″, the Fed said. These factors impacted the slow recovery from the coronavirus pandemic,
The Beige Book also indicated that significantly elevated prices” across most districts, an increase fueled by rising demand for consumer goods and raw materials.
“Expectations for future price growth varied with some expecting price to remain high or increase further while others expected prices to moderate over the next 12 months,” the report said.
Wednesday’s economic calendar carried no other developments impacting the U. S. session in terms of data that impact or drive financial markets’ movements. Wall Street only reacted to data related to oil inventories, which had a positive impact on global oil prices after showing a sharp decline.
Other Developments
Corporate earnings included Verizon Communications Inc. that announced Wednesday Q3 earnings exceeding estimates, amounting to $1.41 per share, compared to expectations that indicated it only $1.36 per share.
This came one day after Halliburton Oil Company, the second largest oilfield and production site services company in the world, announced profits in line with market expectations in the third quarter of this year.
Technology stocks lagged the broader market, however Brinker International, operator of Chili’s Grill & Bar, fell 9.1% after its fiscal first-quarter profit fell far short of analysts’ forecasts as it encounters higher commodity and labour costs. Netflix fell 1.9% after forecasting earnings for its current quarter that were below analysts’ estimates.
PayPal fell 4.9% following reports that it is considering buying digital pinboard and shopping tool Pinterest, which jumped 13.9%.
Beijing has stepped up its control over the nation’s power market amid the crisis, pledging to intervene in the coal market, investigate pricing mechanisms and crack down on the speculative fuel trade as China addresses the problem that is threatening energy security and consequently economic growth.
The most important news headlines in the U. S. session:
