CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Wed Oct 30th, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
U.S. Dollar Index, -0.07%, 97.69
USDJPY, -0.07%, $108.88
EURUSD, +0.11%, $1.1112
GBPUSD, +0.08%, $1.2866
USDCAD, +0.31%, $1.3092
AUDUSD, +0.26%, $0.6856
NZDUSD, -0.01%, $0.6351
U.S. Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index slipped to 125.9 in October (consensus 127.5) from an upwardly revised 126.3 (from 125.1) in September.
In trade, U.S. and China are continuing to work on an interim trade agreement, but it may not be completed in time for the U.S. and Chinese leaders to sign it in Chile next month, a U.S. administration official said on Tuesday.
U.S. Treasuries crept higher in an equally lackluster session. The 2-yr yield and the 10-yr yield both declined one basis point to 1.64% and 1.84%, respectively. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.07% to 97.69. WTI crude declined 0.3%, or $0.19, to $55.76/bbl.
In Brexit, MPs voted through the prime minister’s proposal for a pre-Christmas ballot and rejected an opposition move to hold it three days earlier. The UK might not get a further delay to Brexit if it cannot be sorted by 31 January 2020, Donald Tusk warned. The outgoing president of the European council again urged the UK not to waste the time it had been given.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, -0.08%, 3,036.89
Nasdaq, -0.59%, 8,276.85
Nikkei Futures, -0.13%, 22,927.5
S&P 500 declined 0.08% on Tuesday, although it did set a new intraday high in this lacklustre session. Earnings reports remained in focus ahead of key developments later in the week, which presumably kept buying conviction in check today.
An earnings miss from Alphabet (GOOG 1262.62, -27.38, -2.1%) contributed to some profit taking in the stock and in other strong technology stocks like Apple (AAPL 243.29, -5.76, -2.3%). In addition, the selloffs in Beyond Meat (BYND 81.99, -23.42, -22.2%) and GrubHub (GRUB 33.11, -25.28, -43.3%) following their results had some investors feeling less interested in high-beta names.
Pfizer (PFE 38.21, +0.93, +2.5%) and Merck (MRK 85.11, +2.91, +3.5%) provided the lift for the health care space after both reported positive quarterly results and upbeat guidance. Other blue-chip companies with less-demanding valuations like General Motors (GM 38.21, +1.57, +4.3%), Kellogg (K 62.87, +1.81, +3.0%), Xerox (XRX 34.40, +3.61, +11.7%), and Ingersoll-Rand (IR 127.86, +5.78, +4.7%) also pleased investors with their earnings reports.
Separately, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 129.12, -0.06, unch) announced that “rigorous and third-party testing confirms there is no asbestos in Johnson’s Baby Powder.” Shares were halted for trading and did not resume trading before the market closed. Shares of Boeing (BA 348.93, +8.05, +2.4%) reacted favorably to CEO Dennis Muilenburg’s testimony before the Senate.