Major Average Advance 4th Day In a Row, Pending Home Sales Plunge

Barry Adams
28 Oct, 2022
New York City

Benchmark indexes on Wall Street powered ahead and investors digested weak tech earnings and strong performance from oil giants. 

Chevron and Exxon Mobil reported a multi-fold jump in earnings after energy prices soared in the latest quarter. 

Amazon.com dropped as much as 10% after the online retailer said fourth quarter revenue growth is likely to be weak. 

The S&P 500 index increased 1.2% to 3,854.89 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.2% to 10,925.61. 

Crude oil edged down $1.04 to $88.05 a barrel and natural gas decreased 18 cents to $5.68 a thermal unit. 

 

PCE Price Index Held Steady 

Personal Consumption Expenditure price index, a measure of inflation, rose 0.3% in September from the previous month. 

The PCE index jumped 6.2% from a year ago and matched the rise in the previous month, according to the data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

The PCE index, excluding food and energy, rose 0.5% on a monthly basis and jumped 5.1% from a year ago.   

 

Pending Home Sales Fall In September 

Pending home sales fell for the fourth month in a row after rising mortgage rates and elevated prices kept buyers away. 

Pending home sales in September declined 10.5% from August and plunged 31% from a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said in a statement today. 

"Persistent inflation has proven quite harmful to the housing market," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. 

"The Federal Reserve has had to drastically raise interest rates to quell inflation, which has resulted in far fewer buyers and even fewer sellers," added Yun. 

The pending home sales index is at a low last seen in June 2010, excluding the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020. 

Home prices across the nation are still 40% higher than pre-pandemic 2019 levels. 

 

European Markets Lack Direction On Rate Worries 

European markets traded sideways on the last day of the week and investors digested the latest batch of earnings a day after the ECB lifted the rate by 0.75%. 

The DAX index rose 0.3% to 13,245.24, the CAC-40 index increased 0.5% to 6,274.76 and the FTSE 100 index declined 0.5$ to 7,040.98. 

For the week, the DAX and the CAC-40 jumped 4% and the Swiss SMI index gained 3.3% and the FTSE 100 advanced 1%. 

The yield on 10-year German Bunds increased to 2.09%, French bonds rose to 2.62%, the UK Gilt increased to 3.45% and Italian bonds to 4.19%. 

The euro traded at 99.59 U.S. cents and the British pound inched up to $1.15. 

Brent crude decreased to $1.01 to $95.92 a barrel and TTF natural gas futures rose 2.5% to 110.45 euros a MWh.