Tuesday, October 26 is shaping up to be another relatively quiet day in the financial markets as we inch closer to inflation data reports from all around the world at the end of the week.
The only reports of interest today will be some housing data from the United States - new home sales for September and the house price index for August. Slightly more important than those will be the consumer confidence report for October, which is expected to come in at 108.3, slightly lower than the previous month.
In terms of the stock markets, today the sentiment is much improved, so all major US indices will trade higher. The reason behind this growth lies in the successful earnings season for tech companies.
The key names to keep an eye on today are Tesla, Facebook, Microsoft and Google’s parent company Alphabet.
Tesla already reported a stellar quarter, but its stock received another boost of close to 13% because car rental company Hertz Global placed an order for 100,000 Teslas, the biggest single order the electric car-maker has gotten so far. In addition, the move signifies the increasing acceptance of electric cars and bodes well for EV-making companies like Tesla.
In addition, Tesla’s valuation as a company officially surpassed $1 trillion after the news about the new order.
Like Tesla, Facebook also had already reported its quarterly results but because this only happened yesterday, its stock will likely continue to be volatile today. The company’s advertising revenue was lower than expected, hurt by Apple’s new rules on client privacy, but Facebook boosted its buyback program, which ultimately led to an increase in its share value.
Meanwhile, Alphabet and Microsoft are of interest because they are due to report their earnings today. Other companies we’ll hear from today include General Electric, Visa, and UPS, among others.
In other news, the United States and China are continuing their trade talks. China is still bitter over Trump-era tariffs that President Biden has chosen to keep in place. Nevertheless, both the Chinese and the American teams reported that so far no significant progress towards reconciliation has been made.
