Stocks End Mixed, S&P And Nasdaq Keep Their Winning Streak Alive  Image: Bigstock Stocks closed mixed yesterday with the Dow giving up -0.12% (and ending their 7 day winning streak), while the S&P inched higher by 0.10% (extending their winning streak to 8 days), and the Nasdaq added 0.08% (extending their winning streak to 9 days). Although, the small-cap Russell 2000 and the mid-cap S&P 400 had a rougher go of it giving up -1.10% and -0.46% respectively. Before the open yesterday, Biogen reported earnings and posted a 9.27% positive EPS surprise, and a 6.05% positive sales surprise. But that amounted to a -9% quarterly earnings decline vs. last year at this time, although a 1% increase in sales. However, they cut their full-year EPS outlook to a midpoint of $14.75 vs. the consensus for a midpoint of $15.50. They were down -5.67% in the regular session. After the close, marquee name Disney reported earnings and posted a positive EPS surprise of 22.4%, but a negative sales surprise of -0.36%. But that translated to a whopping 173% increase in quarterly earnings vs. this time last year, and a quarterly sales increase of 5% vs. this time last year (7% for the full year). They were off -0.11% in the regular session before earnings. But jumped more than 3.20% in after-hours trade. Today we'll get another 637 companies set to report with names like AstraZeneca, Sony, and Li Auto before the open, and Trade Desk, Mettler Toledo, and News Corp after the close. In other news yesterday, MBA Mortgage Applications rose 2.5% with purchases up 3.0%, and refi's up 1.6%. And Wholesale Inventories ticked up 0.2% m/m vs. last month's -0.1% pace, and views for 0.0%.
Today we'll get Weekly Jobless Claims. And we'll hear from Fed Chair Jerome Powell again as he participates in a policy discussion at the 24th Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference, in Washington, D.C. Today will be the last big day of earnings where more than 600 companies are on deck to report. After that, the rest of earnings season will see on average of fewer than 100 companies reporting per day until it officially comes to an end on November 21. (BTW, for those who are interested to know, reported earnings by Alcoa has long been considered the 'official' start to earnings season, while Hewlett-Packard (now HP Inc.), has long been considered the 'official' end to earnings season. That is because, Alcoa, at one time, was once the first Dow component to report earnings. And Hewlett-Packard was the last of the Dow components to report earnings. Ironically, both AA and HPQ are no longer part of the Dow Jones Index. But after bookending earnings season for so long, that tradition has stuck, regardless of their current Dow non-membership status.) Anyways, Q3's earnings season has so far come in better than expected. And the outlook for the next few quarters looks even better. Sales and earnings estimates for the S&P for Q4 of this year is expected to show sales up 2.0% with earnings up 2.0% as well. Q1 of 2024 is expected to show sales up 4.1% with earnings up 5.0%. And Q2 is expecting sales to be up 10.7% with earnings up 4.5%. We still have to get thru the rest of this earnings season. And the rest of the year for that matter. But there's a clear trend of improvement in the sales and earnings estimates for the S&P. In the meantime, the long-awaited Q4 rally seems to have begun. And there's high hopes for a strong end of year finish. See you tomorrow,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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