US open: Stocks head south as election and stimulus talks remain in focus
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Thursday 22 Oct 2020
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street stocks opened lower on Thursday as the upcoming US election and stimulus talks were firmly in focus.
As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.36% at 28,109.62, while the S&P 500 was 0.30% weaker at 3,425.42 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.46% softer at 11,432.05.
The Dow opened 101.20 points lower on Thursday, reversing gains recorded in the previous session, as US Director of National Intelligence John Ratfcliffe accused Russia and Iran late on Wednesday of trying to interfere with the 2020 US presidential election.
Ratfcliffe said that merely weeks ahead of election day, foreign actors were seeking to undermine Americans' confidence in the integrity of the vote and to spread misinformation.
"We have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran, and separately, by Russia," he stated.
Ratcliffe added that government officials "have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump".
Elsewhere, talks between US lawmakers to thrash out a new fiscal stimulus package were said to progressing and may be ready soon. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: "We're on a good path. We're coming closer."
She also added that legislation might be ready "pretty soon".
Pelosi and US Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, will continue negotiations on a spending package worth roughly $2.0trn later in the day.
In corporate news, Coca-Cola topped earnings estimates despite reporting a 9% fall in quarterly revenues, while Southwest Airlines reported its largest-ever loss amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
AT&T posted a decline in total operating revenues during the quarter, while the likes IBM, Salesforce, Cisco and Walmart all traded lower at the opening bell and weighed on the Dow.
Intel, Seagate and Mattel will all report after the close.
On the macro front, weekly jobless data surprised to the downside, with both initial and secondary claims retreating. According to the Department of Labor, initial jobless claims for the week ended 17 October dropped by 55,000 to 787,000, better than consensus estimates for a print of 885,000.
The four-week moving average also dropped, down 21,500 to 811,250 and secondary claims for the seven days ended 10 October fell by 1.02m to 8.37m.
Elsewhere in data, existing-home sales increased for the fourth consecutive month in September, with the US housing market benefitting yet again from low interest rates. Total existing-home sales rose 9.4% month-on-month to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.54m, according to the National Association of Realtors. On a year-on-year basis, home sales were up nearly 21%.
Lastly, the Conference Board's leading economic index rose 0.7% in September, following increases of 1.4% in August and 2% in July, indicating that the US economy's expansion had again slowed.
Still to come, the Kansas Fed's manufacturing index for October will be released at 1600 BST.
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