Stocks opened in positive territory as they tried to rebound from yesterday's big selloff. The early strength was attributed to various earnings reports as well as a rebound in Asian stocks, which received a vote of confidence from China's central bank. Throughout the morning the averages moved in a narrow range, but as the European exchanges closed, the gains in the U.S. began to dissipate. The afternoon saw the Nasdaq renew its swoon, pulling the S&P into the red with it as the market limped into the close. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., existing home sales were weaker than expected in September. Sales fell 3.4% to a 5.15M unit rate, which marked a sixth straight monthly drop. In China, stocks in the Shanghai composite were weak at the outset of trading after Q3 GDP growth was reported to be a bit lower than expected at 6.5%. However, stocks reversed course and finished more than 2.5% higher after a number of Chinese officials released statements calling for economic calm and media reports suggested the government is considering additional stimulus measures. In energy news, Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is up 4 rigs from last week to 1,067. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of PayPal (PYPL) jumped 9% after the company reported better than expected third quarter results, noting that Q3 total payment volume grew 24% year-over-year. In addition, the company reported that Venmo, its social payments platform, grew 78% in the quarter in terms of transaction volume processed... American Express (AXP) shares rose about 4% after the credit card giant reported better than expected Q3 earnings and revenue and raised its guidance for FY18... Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) shares finished 4% lower after the company reported quarterly results and CEO Lourenco Goncalves made a series of controversial comments on the company's quarterly conference call. He said some analysts and short-sellers don't understand Cliff's business or even their own businesses, calling them "an embarrassment to your firms." The CEO also said that "these kids that play on computers and someone else's money, we are going to buy back stock. We are going to screw these guys so badly that they just won't be able to quit. They will have to commit suicide"... Meanwhile, shares of AIG (AIG) slipped 3% after the insurer said it expected to report Q3 pre-tax catastrophe losses, net of reinsurance, of roughly $1.5B-$1.7B... DowDuPont (DWDP) shares dipped 2% after the company said it sees non-cash impairment charges of about $4.6B for the September quarter, mainly related to write-offs in its Ag segment... Additionally, Apple (AAPL) was in focus after CEO Tim Cook told BuzzFeed News that he is calling on Bloomberg to retract a story alleging that the company was the victim of a hardware-based attack carried out by the Chinese government. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers were Skechers (SKX) and Procter & Gamble (PG), which gained a respective 14% and 9% after reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers was eBay (EBAY), which fell 9% after Stifel analyst Scott Devitt downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy based on concerning signs he saw in PayPal's report. Also lower was Bank OZK (OZK), which fell 27% after reporting charge-offs that weighed on its quarterly results. INDEXES: The Dow rose 64.89, or 0.26%, to 25,444.34, the Nasdaq lost 36.11, or 0.48%, to 7,449.03, and the S&P 500 dipped 1.00, or 0.04%, to 2,767.78.
