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Stocks closed mixed yesterday with the Dow up 0.47%, and making a new all-time high in the process. But the S&P was essentially flat, while the Nasdaq and small-cap Russell 2000 were lower by -0.16% and -0.49% respectively.
Kevin Matras   
Profit from the Pros
By Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President
Zacks Investment Research
  

Stocks End Mixed, Dow Makes New All-Time High

Stocks closed mixed yesterday with the Dow up 0.47%, and making a new all-time high in the process. But the S&P was essentially flat, while the Nasdaq and small-cap Russell 2000 were lower by -0.16% and -0.49% respectively.

It looks to be a busy earnings week this week.

It got started yesterday morning with GE Aerospace reporting before the open and posting a positive EPS surprise of 13.7%, and a positive sales surprise of 9.36%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 44.3% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 26.5%. They were up 1.31% on the day.

Coca-Cola also reported before the bell and posted a positive EPS surprise of 5.13%, and a negative sales surprise of -0.16%. That equated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 6.49%, and a sales growth of 4.73%. They were up 4.03% yesterday.

And so did General Motors, which posted a positive EPS surprise of 22.8%, and a positive sales surprise of 9.75%, for a quarterly EPS growth rate of -5.41%, and a sales growth of -0.35%. But they raised their full-year EBIT guidance by 11.1% vs. their previous forecast, and raised their adjusted EPS guidance by 11% as well. They were up 14.86% yesterday.

After the close, Netflix reported a negative EPS surprise of -14.8%, and a negative sales surprise of -0.12%. Netflix said a tax dispute with Brazil had hampered their earnings. They pointed to their operating margin coming in at 28% vs. their guidance of 31.5%, which, at the time, apparently did not take into account the Brazilian tax dispute.

Netflix said that sans the Brazilian tax issue, they "would have exceeded" their quarterly margin forecast. They also said they "don't expect this matter to have a material impact on future results." Even with the additional taxes, their quarterly EPS growth rate came in at 8.70%, with sales growth at 17.2%. They were up 0.23% before earnings. But were trading lower by roughly -6% in after-hours trade following earnings.

Texas Instruments also reported after the close and posted a positive EPS surprise of 0.68%, and a positive sales surprise of 2.06%, for a quarterly EPS growth rate of 0.68%, and a sales growth of 14.2%. But they guided next quarter's revenue lower by -2.65% vs. forecasts, and GAAP earnings lower by -10.2%. Nonetheless, the company is still expecting a 9.8% sales growth next quarter vs. last year. They were up 0.70% before earnings, but were down by roughly -8% in after-hours.

Today we'll hear from 155 companies on deck to report, including AT&T, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Lam Research before the open, along with Tesla, and IBM after the close, to name a handful.

Today marks day 22 of the government shutdown, making it the second longest shutdown, replacing the previous number two spot of 21 days back in 1995/1996.

The longest shutdown remains 35 days back in 2018/2109.

While the market historically does fine during shutdowns (the average gain for the S&P during past government shutdowns since 1980 has been 1.69%), plenty of economic reports have been delayed as a result. That includes the Employment Situation report, and the inflation reports.

Although, there's talk that the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release their Consumer Price Index (CPI, retail inflation) later this week (October 24). It was supposed to have come out last week, but didn't. Nonetheless, better late than never.

In the meantime, there'll be plenty of other economic reports coming out, and a plethora of earnings.

See you tomorrow,

Kevin Matras

Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research

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