Stock Market Live: Dow Edges Lower Amid October Earnings Pause

On Oct 21, 2021

U.S. equity futures slipped lower Thursday, potentially snapping a six-day winning streak for the S&P 500, as investors paused from an earnings-driven rally that lifted the Dow to a fresh intra-day higher during yesterday’s session.

A series of stronger-than-expected September quarter earnings reports, including record profits from Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report after the close of trading on Wednesday, have pushed U.S. stocks out of their October torpor and to within touching distance of all time highs.

China Evergrande’s debt woes, however, as well as another warning on inflation from consumer brands giant Unilever, looks to test the market’s momentum Thursday as investors look to a better-than-expected reading on weekly jobless claims, which fell to 290,000 over the period ending October 16, and a softer-thanb-expected reading of Atlantic-region factory activity data for the month of October.

Evergrande rattled markets again late Wednesday afterscrapped a planned sale of a majority stake in its property services subsidiary that was expected to raise $2.6 billion for the indebted developer.

Unilever (UN) – Get Unilever NV ADR Report the world’s biggest consumer brands group — and the maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream — added its name to a list of companies, including Procter & Gamble (PG) – Get Procter & Gamble Company Report and Nestle (NSRGY) – Get NSRGY Report, warning that higher input costs will both add to sticky inflation prospects and higher consumer prices.

On Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are indicating an 85 point opening bell decline, while those linked to the S&P 500 are priced for an 8 point pullback. Futures tied to the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite are indicating a 30 point move to the downside at the start of trading as benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields edge higher, to 1.642%, in overnight trading.

Tesla shares edged 1.5% lower after the clean-energy carmaker cautioned that ramping-up production at new plants in Texas and Germany, as well as surging input costs, would pressure profit margins over the final months of the year.

IBM IBM shares slumped 5.1% after another earnings report was marred by softer-than-expected revenues ahead of the planned separation of its legacy infrastructure business.

AT&T (T) – Get AT&T Inc. Report gained 1.25% after stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings Thursday, thanks in part to impressive subscriber gains for its HBO streaming service, as it continues its transition from media assets to a ‘pure play’ telecom.

Away from equities, Bitcoin continued its ascent into record territory on Thursday, extending Wednesday’s gains as broader optimism about digital assets stoked by the token’s run helped push the overall value of cryptocurrencies to an all-time peak.