Stocks spent another morning fluctuating around unchanged as politicians continue to signal hope that a stimulus deal may still be reached, although one has not been announced yet.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims declined 55,000 to 787,000 in the week ended October 17. Existing home sales rose 9.4% to a 6.54M rate in September. The leading economic indicators index climbed 0.9% to 107.2 in September.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during an interview on MSNBC early this morning that she is "optimistic" on reaching a stimulus deal with Republicans, stating that progress has been made but the two sides are "not there" yet. In a subsequent press conference, the speaker said the two sides are "just about there" on a stimulus agreeement.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Tesla (TSLA) are 1% higher near noon following the company's earnings report after last night's closing bell. While Tesla's results converted analysts at Baird and JMP Securities to the bull camp, bears - such as GLJ Research analyst Gordon Johnson - also dug in with recommendations to sell the shares.
In other earnings news, Coca-Cola (KO) shares are up 1% after the beverage giant reported better than expected sales and earnings, with chairman and CEO James Quincey telling investors that "while many challenges still lie ahead, our progress in the quarter gives me confidence we are on the right path."
AT&T (T) shares are up 5% at midday after the communications services company reported in-line earnings and better than expected revenue. John Stankey, AT&T CEO. "Wireless postpaid growth was the strongest that it's been in years with one million net additions, including 645,000 phones. We added more than 350,000 fiber broadband customers and are on track to grow our fiber base by more than 25% this year. And we continue to grow and scale HBO Max, with total domestic HBO and HBO Max subscribers topping 38 million - well ahead of our expectations for the full year. Our strong cash flow in the quarter positions us to continue investing in our growth areas and pay down debt. We now expect 2020 free cash flow of $26 billion or higher with a full-year dividend payout ratio in the high 50s%."
Goldman Sachs (GS) will claw back tens of millions of dollars from CEO David Solomon, former CEO Lloyd Blankfein and other current and former executives after agreeing to a settlement to resolve multiple government investigations into its role in the 1MDB scandal, The Wall Street Journal reported. The FCA and PRA of the United Kingdom announced they have fined Goldman Sachs International a total of GBP 96.6M, or $126M, for risk management failures connected to 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, and its role in three fund raising transactions for 1MDB. The FCA and PRA fines are part of a $2.9B globally coordinated resolution reached with the Goldman Sachs Group and regulators in the UK, the U.S. and Singapore, the regulators stated.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was MaxLinear (MXL), which rose 11% after reporting better than expected preliminary Q3 revenue. Also higher was Align Technology (ALGN), which gained 34% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Clarus (CLAR), which slid 19% after reporting preliminary Q3 revenue and after announcing an $85M convertible senior notes offering. Also lower was Kimberly-Clark (KMB), which fell 5% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 20.04, or 0.07%, to 28,190.78 , the Nasdaq was down 65.89, or 0.57%, to 11,418.80 , and the S&P 500 was down 5.06, or 0.15%, to 3,430.50 .
