Day Traders Diary

10/24/19

The major averages produced mixed results as the S&P 500 posted a slight gain led by strong quarterly results from Microsoft. The broad index climbed 0.2% to 3,010. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8% to close at 8,185. The Dow Jones Industrial Average struggled, however, falling 28 points, or 0.1% to 26,805 as shares of 3M pulled back 4.1%.

Microsoft was a standout up 1.97% after posting better than expected numbers. The quarterly performance was driven in part by Azure, its cloud business, which saw revenues grow by 59% on a year-over-year basis. Tesla spiked 17% after the electric car maker posted a surprise quarterly profit. The company also told investors its new Shanghai factor is "ready for production." NBCUniversal-parent Comcast, Dow Inc. and PayPal also traded higher on earnings that beat analyst expectations. Twitter was a dog down 20% after posting disappointing earnings.

More than 31% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly earnings thus far, with nearly 80% of them posting results that beat analyst estimates, according to FactSet.

After hours, Amazon is down 6% on cautious earnings guidance.

Vice President Mike Pence for his part delivered a relatively hawkish speech on China, saying Beijing should not underestimate the resolve of President Trump. On a related note, Bloomberg News reported that China is willing to purchase at least $20 billion of agricultural products from the U.S. in the first year after a partial trade deal is signed. Elsewhere, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will reportedly give more time to lawmakers to consider a Brexit deal, but only if they agree to a general election on Dec. 12. The European Central Bank kept rates unchanged, as expected, and confirmed it will resume asset purchases at a monthly pace of 20 billion euros as of Nov. 1.

U.S. Treasuries finished the session little changed. The 2-yr yield and the 10-yr yield were unchanged at 1.58% and 1.76%, respectively. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.2% to 97.68. WTI crude increased 0.7%, or $0.40, to $56.23/bbl.