LONDON (ShareCast) - - Chinese manufacturing improves in October
- Jobless claims, US PMI weaken, trade deficit expands
- Ford, 3M beat forecasts

Dow Jones: 0.62%
Nasdaq: 0.56%
S&P 500: 0.33%

An improved outlook for China and a raft of upbeat corporate earnings lifted US stock markets higher on Thursday, despite some worse-than-expected domestic economic data.

A number of quarterly figures lifted sentiment as companies from Ford to 3M managed to exceed analysts’ expectations. This boosted the benchmark S&P 500 to within two points of its record high of 1,754.67 reached earlier in the week.

Meanwhile after the opening bell, results from tech and internet heavyweights Microsoft, Amazon.com and Zynga also impressed the market along with the announced initial public offering of social-media giant Twitter, which intends to list on the stock market later this year valued at up to $11.1bn.

Global equity markets were on the up on Thursday after figures from HSBC and Markit showed that activity in China’s manufacturing sector rose to a seven-month high in October. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) increased from 50.2 to 50.9, ahead of the consensus forecast of 50.4.

As developments closer to home continue to paint a mixed picture of the American economy - especially after the disappointing September employment figures and the government shutdown - markets are also beginning to price in a delayed taper of quantitative easing (QE) by the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 has risen by nearly 6% in the last two weeks alone.

"We agree that March is now the most likely date for the Fed to begin winding down QE3, but the ongoing fiscal uncertainty could force it into an even longer postponement," said analysts at Capital Economics on Thursday.

Jobless claims fail to hit forecasts

Weekly initial jobless claims fell by 12,000 in the week ended October 19th to 350,000 from a revised 362,000, although it still missed the consensus forecast of 340,000. The higher-than-expected figure was partly due to the effects of the government shutdown as well as the continuing impact of a computer-system upgrade in California last month.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims increased by 10,000 on the prior week to 348,000.

“It is unclear how long the technical issues in California and government shutdown effects will persist, but both remain upside risks for jobless claims in coming weeks,” said analyst Cooper Howes from Barclays.

In other economic data, Markit’s ‘flash’ US PMI for the manufacturing sector fell from 52.8 to 51.1 in October, missing the 52.5 estimate.

The August trade deficit increased slightly to $38.8bn in August from a downwardly-revised $38.6bn the month before, though this was slightly under analysts’ forecasts.

Ford beats quarterly estimates

Carmaker Ford accelerated after third-quarter revenues rose from $32.1bn to $36bn, ahead of the $33.8bn consensus forecast. The firm also said it expects an improvement in full-year pre-tax profit in 2013, better than previous guidance.

3M, the technology conglomerate, also impressed with a 6% increase in third-quarter profit to $1.23bn on sales up 5.6% at $7.92bn.

Software maker Citrix advanced after increasing its buyback and forecasting fourth-quarter earnings ahead of analysts’ estimates.

Equinix, the operator of data centres, gained after saying it expects fourth-quarter sales to exceed $559m, above market forecasts.

Gold miner Goldcorp was also higher after managing to beat predictions despite a sharp drop in profits in the third quarter after a 21% fall in average realised gold prices.

Heading the other way was computer security firm Symantec which plunged after cutting its 2014 outlook to below Wall Street estimates. It now expects revenue to fall 3-4% on the year.

Akamai Technologies declined after projecting fourth-quarter revenue and profit that fell short of some forecasts.


S&P 500 - Risers
PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $17.85 +7.01%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $116.70 +6.42%
Expeditors International Of Washington Inc. (EXPD) $46.30 +4.89%
McKesson Corp. (MCK) $150.00 +4.86%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $58.79 +4.85%
Teradata Corp. (TDC) $45.45 +4.68%
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT) $73.61 +4.49%
Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) $74.52 +4.40%
Precision Castparts Corp. (PCP) $256.43 +4.17%
Janus Capital Group Inc. (JNS) $9.54 +4.03%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Cameron International Corp. (CAM) $53.85 -14.28%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $21.49 -12.71%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $46.06 -11.20%
Xerox Corp. (XRX) $9.61 -10.44%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $125.08 -6.87%
Varian Medical Systems Inc. (VAR) $73.30 -6.65%
Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) $11.54 -6.10%
Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) $114.54 -5.24%
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (CCE) $40.45 -4.76%
Zimmer Holdings Inc. (ZMH) $85.66 -4.72%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $76.78 +2.26%
Visa Inc. (V) $202.91 +2.02%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $61.38 +1.93%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $159.96 +1.41%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $69.05 +1.37%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $177.80 +1.15%
General Electric Co. (GE) $25.94 +0.93%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $88.42 +0.92%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $84.53 +0.92%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $87.03 +0.87%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
AT&T Inc. (T) $34.63 -1.84%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $50.42 -0.79%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $38.80 -0.74%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $46.22 -0.73%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $52.48 -0.51%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $80.61 -0.37%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $33.72 -0.12%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $75.51 -0.07%
Boeing Co. (BA) $128.98 -0.03%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $116.70 +6.42%
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) $173.15 +5.26%
Expeditors International Of Washington Inc. (EXPD) $46.30 +4.89%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $58.79 +4.85%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $161.34 +4.04%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $172.85 +3.84%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $75.64 +3.60%
Equinix Inc. (EQIX) $174.07 +3.21%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $33.17 +2.71%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $50.50 +2.64%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $21.49 -12.71%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $46.06 -11.20%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $125.08 -6.87%
Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) $114.54 -5.24%
Sirius XM Radio Inc (SIRI) $3.91 -3.58%
Liberty Media Corporation - Class A (LMCA) $154.11 -1.43%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $85.15 -1.34%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $157.96 -1.27%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $370.29 -1.25%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $79.05 -1.25%

BC

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