CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Thu Oct 24th, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
U.S. Dollar Index, -0.07%, 97.46
USDJPY, +0.17%, $108.67
EURUSD, +0.07%, $1.1133
GBPUSD, +0.32%, $1.2915
USDCAD, -0.16%, $1.3073
AUDUSD, -0.07%, $0.6851
NZDUSD, +0.23%, $0.6421
U.S. MBA Mortgage Applications Index for the week ending October 19 was down 11.9%, as higher mortgage rates pressured interest in refinancing and purchase applications. The FHFA Housing Price Index for August increased 0.2% following an unrevised 0.4% increase in July.
U.S. Treasuries saw an uptick in demand, which pushed yields lower. The 2-yr yield declined three basis points to 1.58%, and the 10-yr yield declined one basis point to 1.76%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.07% to 97.46.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, +0.28%, 3,004.52
Nasdaq, +0.19%, 8,119.79
Nikkei Futures, +0.45%, 22,782.5
S&P 500 increased 0.28% on Wednesday in a resilient session. Today featured disappointing quarterly results and guidance from Caterpillar (CAT 135.34, +1.65, +1.2%) and Texas Instruments (TXN 118.95, -9.62, -7.5%), but the broader market was able to withstand the news to close at session highs.
The information technology sector (+0.1%) sidestepped the weakness in the semiconductor space thanks to another noticeable gain in Apple (AAPL 243.18, +3.22, +1.3%) after Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $289 from $247. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 1.9%. The consumer discretionary sector (-0.4%) was today’s lagging S&P 500 sector.
In other corporate news, Boeing (BA 340.50, +3.50, +1.0%) missed earnings estimates, but investors were placated by a better-than-feared outlook for its 737 MAX, which is still expected to return to service in Q4. Facebook (FB 186.19, +3.85, +2.1%) CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress on Libra and, based on the stock’s price action, investors were mostly satisfied with his testimony.
Separately, Nike (NKE 92.32, -3.23, -3.4%) announced Mark Parker will step down as CEO on Jan. 13, 2020 and will be replaced by John Donahoe, who is the President and CEO of ServiceNow (NOW 220.01, -8.33, -3.7%).