With Earnings in Focus Wall Street Power Ahead, Match to Go Public

Nichole Harper
16 Oct, 2015
New York City

Market indexes on Wall Street edged higher and for the week the S&P 500 index increased 0.9%. Match Group Inc, the owner of a portfolio of dating sties, filed for an initial public offering. Jobless rate in California State fell to eight year low of 5.9%.

[R][7:30 PM New York City, New York – Market indexes on Wall Street edged higher and for the week the S&P 500 index increased 0.9%. Match Group Inc, the owner of a portfolio of dating sties, filed for an initial public offering. Jobless rate in California State fell to eight year low of 5.9%.[/R]

U.S. stocks edged higher as investors intensified focus on earnings after weeks of China doldrums and interest rate jitters.

Investors recalibrated attention to the latest batch of earnings and staples and healthcare stocks led the gainers on Friday as energy prices swung higher in New York and in London.

Moreover, traders ignored the latest decline in industrial production, the second monthly decline in a row.

September industrial production slid 0.2% after easing 0.1% in August. Manufacturing production fell 0.1% and mining output slid 2%. Utility output rose 1.3%.

Total industrial production in September grew 0.4% from a year earlier and capacity utilization for total industry fell to 77.5%, the Federal Reserve Bank said.

On Wall Street, Tollbooth Strategy Index slid 17.02 or 0.2% to 10,587.12.

S&P 500 index edged up 0.90 to 2,024.67 and the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 6.69 or to 4,863.19.

Crude oil in New York rose 33 cents to $46.71 a barrel and gold edged down 97 cents to $1,182.13 an ounce.

U.S. Movers

General Electric Company ((GE)) increased 1.5% or 42 cents to $28.42 after the industrial conglomerate and financial services provider reported revenues in the third-quarter ending in September fell 1.3% from a year ago to $31.68 billion.

Net income in the quarter plunged 29% to $2.51 billion or 25 cents per diluted share compared to $3.54 billion or 35 cents from the same quarter last year.

European Markets

In a preliminary estimate, the annual inflation rate in the euro area fell to -0.1% from 0.1% in August. In the wider region of EU28 annual inflation rate slid to -0.1% in September from break even in August.

In the year ago month the rate was 0.4%, the Statistical Office of the European Communities reported.

Separately, the department said in the first estimate of the Euro zone, trade surplus in August with the rest of the world jumped to €11.2 billion from €7.4 billion in a year ago month.

In the wider region of EU28, the trade deficit fell to €2.3 billion in August with rest of the world from the deficit of €10 billion a year ago month.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index increased 29.77 or 0.5% to 6,367.74 and in Frankfurt the DAX index edged up 9.46 to 10,074.26.

In Paris, CAC 40 index gained 12.30 or 0.3% to 4,687.59.

For the week, FTSE 100 index decreased 0.8% and the DAX index fell 0.2% and the CAC 40 index slid 0.3%.

Carrefour SA soared 6.5% to €28.94 after the France-based discount and convenience stores operator said group sales in the third-quarter ending in September soared 4.2% from a year ago to €21.54 billion.

The retailer said domestic organic sales growth in the quarter increased 1.6% to €10.27 billion but sales in international region surged 6.2% to €11.28 billion.

Hugo Boss AG was halted at €78.33 after the Germany-based luxury fashion clothing maker reported group sales in the third-quarter jumped 4% to €744 million and operating profit declined 8% to €168 million mainly due to weak sales in China and in the U.S.

The company is scheduled to release detail third-quarter results on November 3.

Nestle SA dropped 2.4% to 73.35 Swiss francs after the Switzerland-based dairy and food products maker said total sales in the nine-month period ending in September dropped 2.1% from a year ago to 64.86 billion francs.

The company sales were impacted by the withdrawal of Maggi noodles in India and slower than expected recovery in China.

Nestle lowered its fiscal organic growth outlook to around 4.5% from the earlier estimate of 4.7% but said underlying earnings per share outlook on constant currencies basis are likely to improve.

Asian Markets

Stocks in Tokyo closed notably higher following a rise in Shanghai in late trading and also on the growing speculation that the Bank of Japan may offer additional stimulus steps.

On the economic front, industrial output in August declined 1.2% from July, higher than the initially estimated to fall 0.5%, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 194.90 or 1.1% to 18,291.80 and the broader Topix index increased 15.12 to 1,505.84.

For the week, Nikkei 225 jumped 3.1%.

The yen strengthened to 118.97 against a dollar.

Market advance was also supported by the gains in Shanghai ahead of the gross domestic report. Adastria Co, the apparel retailer said sales in first-half jumped 10%.

Shiseido Company, Limited rose 0.3% to 2,759 yen after the cosmetics, toiletries, beauty products maker estimated net sales for the first-half ending in September of about 412 billion yen.

The company lifted net income for the period forecast to 4 billion yen from the previous estimate to 1.50 billion yen.

Stocks in Mumbai rose for the third week in a row and banks and financials led the gainers in Friday’s trading.

Rupee strengthened 1 paisa to 64.80 against one U.S. dollar.

The Sensex Index advanced 204.46 or 0.8% to close at 27,214.60. The CNX Nifty increased 58.65 or 0.7% to 8,238.15.

For the week, Sensex Index rose 0.4% and CNX Nifty increased 0.6%.

Reliance Industries Limited rose 0.9% to ₹912.20 after the conglomerate reported net in the second-quarter jumped 12.5% from a year ago to ₹6,700 crore.

Total revenues in the quarter soared 33.8% to ₹113,396 crore.