Earnings season optimism sees stocks make gains

15 Oct 2021

📈 SPX | 4,438 (+74, +1.7%)
📈 DJIA | 34,913 (+535, +1.6%)
📈 CCMP | 14,823 (+252, +1.7%)

👍 US stocks again rose as the major earnings season begins. Most US banks have reported earnings this week, with Goldman Sachs (Friday) and BNY Mellon (Tuesday) yet to come. Counting earnings seasons since last March, the S&P500 has risen by around 4% on average during the 6-week period.

⚡️ US initial jobless claims yesterday dipped to a new pandemic low (293,000) yesterday, beating expectations. The data interestingly also revealed that women’s labour force participation dropped, supposedly due to a lack of adequate childcare.

🇨🇳 Microsoft (+2.2%) will be shutting down their LinkedIn operations in China, citing “a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China”. Till recently, LinkedIn had been seen as a model for US internet company success in China, having amassed 52 million users.