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Profit-Taking to Start a New Trading Week

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Monday, October 18, 2021

After a strong trading week last week, culminating in gains Friday from +0.5% (Nasdaq) to +1.1% (Dow), some profit-taking appears to be the move in Monday pre-markets. The Dow is down -190 points, the S&P 500 is -25 and the Nasdaq -75 points. We’re not seeing any breaking headlines from economic reports nor major earnings releases directly taking aim at high market valuations, which is why this selling period looks temporary.

We do get big earnings reports this week — more than 70 names on the S&P 500 will be reporting between now and Friday. Tomorrow brings us the latest from Zacks Rank #4 (Sell)-rated Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) and Zacks Rank #3 (Hold)-rated Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) , which ushers in a new quarter for FAANG stocks. Wednesday brings us results from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-rated Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) . All of these names are reporting after the closing bell.

Later this afternoon we’ll hear from Zacks Rank #1 Steel Dynamics (STLD - Free Report) , which is expected to put up big growth numbers of $4.99 per share on $4.59 billion — up +114% and +871%, respectively. Aside from three quarters in a row of negative earnings surprises back in 2019, Steel Dynamics has not missed in the past five years, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 7%. Demand for steel in new construction is expected to be strong; today’s numbers will help color in some of the lines.

Ahead of the regular session today, we see results from institutional finance holding company State Street Corp. (STT - Free Report) , which topped estimates on both earnings and revenues for its Q3 report: $1.96 per share beat the Zacks consensus by four cents, and was well ahead of the year-ago $1.45 per share, on $2.99 billion in receipts that beat analyst estimates for $2.95 billion and +7.6% from Q3 2020. Shares are up +1.25% on the news, and the stock has gained nearly 30% year to date.

In economic data this morning, we see Industrial Production for September coming in notably lower than estimates: -1.3% from an expected +0.2%. Motor vehicles and parts fell -7.2% for the month, following a strong period of new and uysed auto sales earlier this year. Capacity Utilization dropped a full percentage point to 75.2%, from a downwardly revised 76.2% reported for August. A little sand in the gears for the robust economic growth we've seen elsewhere.

For the rest of the week, in addition to Q3 earnings reports, we’ll also get new prints on Housing Starts and Building Permits for last month, a new Beige Book, PMI Manufacturing and Services for October, and, of course, fresh Initial and Continuing Jobless Claims on Thursday morning.

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