Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Thursday, October 27:
1. December Fed rate hike odds climb to 78%
Market participants are currently pricing in around a 78% chance of a rate hike at the Federal Reserve's December meeting, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
A recent string of positive U.S. economic data combined with hawkish remarks from key Fed officials heightened expectations for an interest rate hike before the end of the year.
Traders will parse the latest data on U.S. durable goods, jobless claims and pending home sales on Thursday morning. U.S. third-quarter growth figures scheduled for release on Friday could provide further hints on the future path of monetary policy.
2. Wall Street eyes big day of earnings
Thursday will be the biggest day of the reporting season, with dozens of earnings on tap.
Early morning earnings reports are expected from Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), UPS (NYSE:UPS), Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW), Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), Aetna (NYSE:AET), Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG), CME Group (NASDAQ:CME), Dr Pepper Snapple (NYSE:DPS), Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) and T Rowe Price (NASDAQ:TROW).
After the bell, results are expected from Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), and Aflac (NYSE:AFL).
3. Global stocks edge lower as dollar remains firms, oil steadies
Global stocks were mostly lower on Thursday as the dollar firmed near a nine-month high and oil prices steadied after falling sharply a day earlier.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a marginally lower open as traders eyed the release of key data and earnings.
Elsewhere, European and U.K. stocks were down slightly in choppy mid-morning trade, with corporate earnings dominating market moves.
Earlier, Asian shares finished broadly lower, with traders focused on oil, earnings and China economic data.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last at 98.65, within sight of a nine-month high of 99.09 touched earlier this week.
Oil prices were higher, bouncing off the prior session's three-week low as market players awaited details of a planned output cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
U.S. crude was up 14 cents, or 0.28%, to $49.32 a barrel, while Brent tacked on 26 cents, or 0.52%, to $50.24 a barrel.
4. U.K. economy grows 0.5% post-Brexit, beating expectations
The U.K. economy grew more than expected in the third quarter, indicating that the economy shrugged off the immediate shock of the June 23 Brexit referendum.
U.K. gross domestic product grew by 0.5% in the three months to September, preliminary figures released by the Office for National Statistics showed, above forecasts for growth of 0.3%.
The economy grew by 2.3% on a year-over-year basis, also above the forecast for growth of 2.1%.
The ONS indicated that there were few signs of a pronounced effect from the Brexit on the economy, but added that it was still too early to tell the effect of sterling depreciation on the data.
5. Tesla jumps 5% after posting second quarterly profit ever
Shares of Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) soared 5% in pre-market trade Thursday after the company posted its second profitable quarter ever and beat analyst expectations for the third quarter by a wide margin.
The automaker said it earned 71 cents a share on an adjusted basis in the third quarter on $2.3 billion in revenue. Analysts expected a loss of 54 cents per share on $1.98 billion in revenues, according to market estimates.