By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com -- NASDAQ Composite vaulted to a record high on Thursday after upbeat earnings reports from Ford, Merck and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT).
Nothing could dampen investors’ enthusiasm, not even data that showed U.S. economic output slowed dramatically in the third quarter.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) stock rose 11% after beating expectations and raising its forecast for the full year, while Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) also raised its forecast and said it could have $7 billion in sales from its anti Covid pill, if approved by regulators.
The Commerce Department said the economy at a 2% annualized rate last quarter, with growth dampened by surging Covid infections that put a dent in global manufacturing and supply chains.
The U.S. jobs picture continued to show improvement with Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropping to a new 19-month low last week.
Reuters reported that S&P 500 companies are expected to grow profits by 37.6% year-on-year in the third quarter, up from an expected 29.4% rise at the start of the earnings season.
Inflation and spending data are due out on Friday. Here are three things that could affect the markets tomorrow:
1. Chevron earnings
We get two reports from Big Oil on Friday. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX)’s third-quarter profit per share is seen at $2.21 on revenue of $40.27 billion, according to analysts tracked by Investing.com.
2. Exxon earnings
ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) is expected to report third-quarter revenue of $71.02 billion and EPS of $1.56.
3. Personal consumption
The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes food and energy costs and is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, is likely to have risen 0.2% month-on-month in September, slightly slower than August’s 0.3%. On a year-on-year basis, it is seen rising 3.7%. The data come out at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT).