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Trump's "keep you in suspense" overshadows debate

Wall Street is taking the final presidential debate in stride. Stocks (^GPSC, ^DJI, ^IXIC) were slightly higher after the European Central Bank left rates unchanged and ECB President Mario Draghi didn’t offer any new clues about tapering or extending its bond-buying program.

Suspense about Trump
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton talked about immigration, abortion and gun control in their third and final presidential debate. But that’s being overshadowed by Trump’s refusal to say he’ll accept the results of the election. Trump said he will “look at it at the time” and keep us in suspense. Will that answer hurt his chances of winning?

Tesla’s self-driving hardware
Tesla (TSLA) says it will install hardware in all new cars so that they can drive themselves. But there’s a catch: The software necessary for the system to work won’t be ready for some time. Tesla expects to roll out the software starting in December if regulators approve it. CEO Elon Musk’s goal is to demonstrate a vehicle traveling in full autonomous mode from Los Angeles to New York by the end of next year. Is this a retreat from Tesla’s aggressive strategy of pushing self-driving cars?

Zuckerberg defends Thiel
Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckeberg is defending one of his financial backers who backs Donald Trump. Zuckerberg wrote a letter to his staff in support of Peter Thiel, an early Facebook backer and board member who this week pledged $1.25 million to Trump. Zuckerberg said Facebook must welcome diversity. And he said, “There are many reasons a person might support Trump that do not involve racism, sexism, xenophobia or accepting sexual assault.” Why was this necessary?

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Stocks to watch
Mattel (MAT) stock was higher this morning after the toymaker delivered third-quarter revenue that was slightly better-than-expected. Even though sales were little changed from a year ago, girls’ toys such as Barbie and American Girl dolls saw strong sales growth. Barbie sales jumped about 16% from a year ago, while sales of American Girl products increased 14%.

Microsoft (MSFT) is set to report quarterly results after the close today. Analysts want to see if the tech giant’s bet on the cloud will continue to pay off. Wall Street is looking for a profit of $0.68 a share. That’s up a penny from a year ago. Revenue is estimated to come in flat from a year ago at $21.7 billion.

Walgreens (WBA) posted earnings that beat forecasts, but revenue fell short of estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter. The company also said it now expects its deal with Rite Aid to close in early 2017, instead of this year, as it looks to divest more stores to gain regulatory approval.

American Express (AXP) shares were up sharply in early trading. The credit card issuer raised its earnings outlook for the year after it reported earning and revenue that topped analysts’ estimates in the quarter ending September 30. Amex benefited from card fees and spending by card holders in the third quarter. However, both earnings and revenue fell from a year ago as the company’s 16-year deal with Costco (COST) ended.