Shrugging off yesterday’s flat to slightly down finish for US indices, US index futures are up 0.4% to 0.8% this morning. Major European indices are also green across the board with the Dax and CAC both up 1.0% and the FTSE up 0.7%. Commodities, however, continue to struggle with Natural Gas down 3.3%, WTI Crude Oil down 3.3% and Copper down 0.5%.
With this week’s political news subsiding following mixed communiques from the G-20 and COP 27 meetings, and the biggest economic reports already out, focus has turned back to earnings where there have been a number of positive reports overnight and this morning. Several US specialty retailers have exceeded expectations including Foot Locker ($1.27 vs street $1.11, up 13.6% premarket) and Gap Stores ($0.71 vs street $0.00, up 8.6% premarket). In the Technology sector, Applied Materials ($2.03 vs street $1.73), and Palo Alto Networks ($0.83 vs street $0.69) also beat the street.
Canadian Industrial prices (2.4% vs street 0.4%) and raw material prices (1.3% vs street 0.0%) jumped more than expected in October indicating inflation pressures have not gone away. US existing home sales are due to 10:00 am EDT. Next week everything is front-ended with all of the scheduled economic and earnings news compressed into the first 2 ½ days before things slow down for the US Thanksgiving holiday.
