Midday Market Update: Earnings Wallop Wall Street
October 16th at 10:00am by Tom Lydon
Just days after the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a milestone, stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) fell into negative territory after some highly anticipated earnings reports that failed to live up to expectations.
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) reported a $1 billion loss for the third quarter. Consumer credit issues canceled out any earnings from investment banking. Bank of America received two bailouts amounting to $45 billion and has yet to start repaying it, reports Joe Rauch for Reuters.
- iShares Dow Jones U.S. Financial Services (NYSEArca: IYG) is down nearly 2.5% so far today; Bank of America is 12.1%
General Electric (NYSE: GE) reported lower profits, but better-than-expected figures overall. The company’s strength in the industrial and media sectors helped offset the woes in its financial division. Third-quarter earnings fell 42%, which is less than what analysts had feared, reports Bob Sechler for The Wall Street Journal.
- WisdomTree Equity Income (NYSEArca: DHS) is down about 1.5% this morning; GE is 8.1%
Industrial production rose more than analysts predicted last month. Production at factories, mines and utilities rose 0.7% in September. This follows gains of 1.2% in August and 0.9% in July, reports Shobahna Chandra for Bloomberg.
Consumer sentiment is down, however. The index tracking how consumers are feeling fell to 69.4 from 73.5 last month.
