The US stock markets continued to climb on Friday. Eight out of ten companies have delivered stronger earnings than expected so far in the reporting season, according to Factset.
–
The US stock markets rose from the start on Friday. This is how the week ended for the central indices:
- The Dow Jones rose 1.1 percent
- The S&P 500 ended up 0.75 percent
- The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.5 percent
Ahead of the stock market opening, the major bank Goldman Sachs presented far stronger figures than expected, similar to the other banks that have provided figures this week.
Earnings were particularly impressive in the investment banking and trading business areas. The Goldman share ended up four percent, and is thus only three percent away from the top listing from the end of August.
– Banks paint a strong and healthy picture of the American consumer. Wall Street can not be negative to the economy after seeing lower loan loss provisions, lending growth and a consumer willing to take on debt, says Edward Moya, senior analyst at Oanda to CNBC.
Aluminum giant Alcoa rose more than 15 percent after delivering an adjusted quarterly result of $ 2.05 per share, against an upfront expectation of $ 1.80.
Like its competitor Hydro, Alcoa benefits from a global demand for raw materials that has sent aluminum prices to their highest level in 13 years.
Strong shopping numbers
The reporting season for the third quarter kicked off in the middle of the week, and has so far been an uplifting affair.
Of the 41 companies on the S&P index that have so far delivered figures for the third quarter, 80 percent of them have beaten the earnings per share estimates, according to FactSet.
On Friday, figures were also published for retail trade in the United States, which rose by 0.7 per cent in September. This after an upward growth of 0.9 percent the month before, according to figures from the US Department of Commerce.
Excluding car sales, there was a growth of 0.8 per cent. In advance, a fall of 0.2 percent was expected for total sales, and an increase of 0.5 percent without car sales, according to Infront.
Developments in the US key figures are being monitored extra closely before the Central Bank’s (Fed) next meeting in early November. If the recovery in the economy continues, it is expected that the Fed will then announce a reduction in the support purchases of securities.
The next step will be interest rate hikes, but this is not expected until the second half of 2022.
–
