Stock Market News For Oct 29, 2019

Wall Street closed sharply higher on Monday buoyed by better-than-expected earnings results, possibility of an interim trade deal and positive development on Brexit. The benchmark S&P 500 index achieved a new all-time high. All three major stock indexes ended in positive territory.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) surged 0.5% or 132.66 points to close at 27,090.72. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to close at 3,039.42. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 8,325.99, soaring 1%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) increased 2% to close at 13.37. A total of 6.46 billion shares were traded Monday, higher than the last 20-session average of 6.11 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.48-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.23-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The S&P 500 index closed at 3,039.42, surpassing its previous closing high of 3,027.98 recorded on Jul 26. The benchmark index also set a record intraday high of 3,044.08.The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) gained 1.3% while the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) tanked 1.4%. Notably, seven out of total 11 sectors of the benchmark index closed in the green while four finished in red.

The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite ended at 8,325.99 after touching its intra-day high of 8,335.56, outpacing its previous all-time high of 8,330.21 set on Jul 26, buoyed by strong performance of large-cap tech stocks. Moreover, the Dow closed in positive territory with 21 components of the 30-stock index closing in the green while 9 ended in red. The blue-chip index is currently less than 1% away from its all-time high of 27,359.16, posted on Jul 15.

Better-Than-Expected Q3 Earnings Results

AT&T Inc. T reported third quarter 2019 adjusted earnings per share of $0.94, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. Revenues of $44,588 million lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $45,006 million. Shares of AT&T surged 4.3%.

SpotifyTechnology S.A. SPOT came out with third-quarter earnings of $0.41 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.40 per share.Revenues of $1.97 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.80%. Shares of the Zacks #2 (Buy) company jumped 16.2%.You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.43 for fourth-quarter fiscal 2019, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.4%.Total sales of $33.95 billion edged past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $33.86 billion. Walgreens Boots shares gained 0.7%.

Possibility of U.S.-China Partial Trade Deal

On Oct 25, he Office of the U.S. Trade Representative stated that both the United States and china are moving close to finalize parts of a phase one trade deal. The deal is expected to be declared in mid-November after the meeting between President Donald Trump and Xi Jingping of China.Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua also confirmed that progress being made on trade negotiations.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has refrained from hiking tariff rate to 30% from 25% on $250 billion of Chinese goods effective Oct 15. The Trump administration has also decided to stay away from imposing 10% tariff on $160 billion of fresh Chinese exports effective Dec 15, if the trade negotiation progress in right path.

Positive Development on Brexit

The European Union has decided to extend the exit date of Britain from the European Union to Jan 31, 2020 from the existing date of Oct 31, 2019. During the extended period, the British authority will get time to form a deal which will be acceptable to both the European Union was well as the U.K. parliament. It’s the second time the Brexit deadline has been changed since the 2016 referendum on Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Stocks That Made Headline

National Oilwell Q3 Earnings & Revenues Miss Estimates

National Oilwell Varco Inc. NOV incurred an adjusted loss of 61 cents per share in third-quarter 2019, declining from the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings of 10 cents. (Read More)

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Click to get this free report AT&T Inc. (T) : Free Stock Analysis Report National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NOV) : Free Stock Analysis Report Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Spotify Technology SA (SPOT) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research