New York (AFP) – Wall Street stocks finished mostly higher Thursday as markets cheered strong results from Tesla and as US Treasury bond yields pulled back. Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company piled on nearly 22 percent after reporting higher earnings, ending a streak of disappointing results. Deutsche Bank called Tesla’s profit margins “impressive,” adding that Musk’s commentary on 2025 sales was also encouraging.
While Tesla’s performance helped lift the Nasdaq and S&P 500, the Dow was pulled lower by disappointing results from IBM and Honeywell. Boeing meanwhile dropped 1.2 percent after a machinist union voted by almost two-thirds to reject the company’s latest contract offer, extending a nearly six-week strike. Analysts said the vote further clouds the company’s turnaround prospects under new CEO Kelly Ortberg.
European indices rose, with investors anticipating interest rate cuts, while oil prices climbed then fell as the crude market continued to experience volatile trading. With the US presidential election still seen as a coin toss less than two weeks out, there was plenty of uncertainty on trading floors, though observers said some dealers were eyeing a win for Donald Trump and policies such as tax cuts that could stoke inflation again.
That, along with a strong run of US economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve officials backing a cautious approach to easing monetary policy, has seen expectations for rate cuts whittled back. US Treasury yields have pushed higher in recent days, although they retreated somewhat on Thursday.
The monetary policy outlook would appear different in Europe, where analysts are betting on the possibility of bumper rate cuts in the eurozone and Britain. This comes after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said UK inflation was falling quicker than expected, and as eurozone economic data continues to weaken.
Business activity in the single-currency bloc ticked lower for the second consecutive month in October, a closely watched survey showed Thursday. The HCOB Flash Eurozone purchasing managers’ index published by S&P Global registered a figure of 49.7 compared to 49.6 in September. Any reading above 50 indicates growth, while a figure below 50 shows contraction.
The latest PMI data for Britain on Thursday showed its “economy struggled” at the start of the fourth quarter, said Kathleen Brooks, research director at traders XTB.
– Key figures around 2050 GMT –
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 42,374.36 (close)
New York – S&P: UP 0.2 percent at 5,809.86 (close)
New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 18,415.49 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,269.38 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,503.28 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.3 at 19,443.00 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.1 percent at 38,143.29 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 20,489.62 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 3,280.26 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0832 from $1.0782 on Wednesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2972 from $1.2921
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 151.83 yen from 152.76 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 83.47 pence from 83.44 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.8 percent at $74.38 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.8 percent at $70.19 per barrel
burs-jmb/nro
© 2024 AFP
