Mid-Week Market Minute - October 23, 2024
Mid-Week Market Minute 10.23.24
Stocks Slightly Lower; Key Housing, Earnings Data This Week
Stocks were mostly lower in early trading this week as relentlessly higher interest rates put pressure on the broader market. The S&P 500 was lower by about 0.5%, while the Russell 2000 index, which includes more rate-sensitive small cap stocks, was lower by about 2%. This comes as the yield on the 10-year Treasury breached its highest levels since July, trading around 4.23% as of Wednesday. This marks a roughly 60-basis-point increase in the 10-year yield since mid-September.
Elsewhere, shares of fast-food giant McDonald’s fell sharply yesterday after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of an E. coli outbreak tied to the fast-food giant. On the earnings front, shares of Coca-Cola were trading lower on Wednesday despite topping analysts’ earnings and revenue forecasts. In the U.S. telecom space, shares of AT&T moved higher by more than 3% on the back of stronger-than-expected subscription growth. On the horizon, investors will look ahead to corporate earnings from electric vehicle giant Tesla after the bell on Wednesday, alongside several other key earnings reports in the days ahead.
On the data front, markets will get a look at existing and new home sales for the remainder of the week, followed by durable goods orders on Friday. With the next Federal Reserve policy decision slated for Nov. 7, fed funds futures markets continue to expect with near certainty a 25-basis-point rate cut. With that said, markets have been discounting the probability of an additional rate cut in December, with those odds currently sitting around 65%, compared to nearly 90% just a week earlier.
Source: GSAM, CNBC, JPMorgan, FactSet
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