U.S. stock futures stable; earnings season kicks into top gear
* Sterling down but well off session lows
* Tesla shares jump, Microsoft gains
(Updates with oil settlement prices)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The pound pared losses against
the dollar on Thursday in the wake of British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson's call for a Dec. 12 election to break the
country's deadlock over its exit from the European Union, while
global stock markets edged up.
Johnson said in a letter to opposition Labour leader Jeremy
Corbyn he would give Parliament more time to approve his Brexit
deal but that lawmakers must back a December election.
Sterling GBP= was last trading at $1.2857, down 0.46% on
the day, well off its lows of the session.
EU member states on Wednesday delayed a decision on whether
to grant Britain a three-month Brexit extension. were flat to higher, with upbeat earnings from
Microsoft https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/wall-street-set-to-open-higher-on-microsoft-tesla-results-idUSKBN1X31IJ
MSFT.O and Mercedes maker Daimler https://www.reuters.com/article/us-daimler-results/daimler-third-quarter-operating-profit-up-8-boosted-by-mercedes-sales-idUSKBN1X30GS
DAIGn.DE offsetting disappointing results from Twitter
TWTR.N and other companies.
"Right now we're seeing disparity in moves of the indexes.
And that's due primarily to the flow of earnings announcements
as they surprise to the upside and disappoint to the downside,"
said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth
Management in Birmingham, Alabama.
"If consensus is building that a trough is occurring" in
quarterly earnings changes, though, that could end up being a
positive for the stock market, he said.
The latest estimate for third-quarter earnings for
companies on the benchmark U.S. S&P 500 index improved slightly.
Earnings are expected to have declined 2.3% year-over-year in
the quarter versus an estimated decline of 2.9% on Wednesday,
according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Third-quarter earnings reports took center stage on Wall
Street, with investors trying to gauge the fallout from a
prolonged U.S.-China trade war, which has already shown up in
the domestic economy.
Tesla https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-stock/tesla-shares-bonds-jump-after-surprise-third-quarter-profit-idUSKBN1X31NG
TSLA.O shares rallied, a day after the company reported an
unexpected third-quarter profit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 39.66 points,
or 0.15%, to 26,794.29, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 3.9 points, or
0.13%, to 3,008.42 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 57.37
points, or 0.71%, to 8,177.16.
The S&P 500 briefly moved lower after comments from U.S.
Vice President Mike Pence, who accused China of curtailing
"rights and liberties" in Hong Kong but also insisted that the
United States does not seek confrontation or to "de-couple" from
its main economic rival. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS
gained 0.30%. The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose
0.59%.
German companies, including Daimler, helped to boost
Europe's indexes.
The euro EUR= was down 0.19% to $1.1108.
In commodities markets, U.S. crude CLcv1 rose 26 cents to
settle at $56.23 a barrel, while Brent LCOcv1 rose 50 cents to
settle at $61.67.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last fell 2/32 in price
to yield 1.766%, from 1.759% late on Wednesday.
Asia stock markets https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
Asia-Pacific valuations https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dr2BQA
Inflation, unemployment during the Draghi era https://tmsnrt.rs/2IXunV6
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