Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Amazon Misses Q3 Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.02% to 35,723.13 while the NASDAQ fell 0.38% to 15,387.12. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.26% to 4,584.65.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 46,685,140 cases with around 763,780 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 34,246,150 cases and 457,220 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,781,430 COVID-19 cases with 607,120 deaths. In total, there were at least 246,409,210 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,998,850 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares gained by 0.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Lucid Group, Inc. LCID, up 32% and Overstock.com, Inc. OSTK up 24%.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN reported weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter and issued downbeat sales guidance for the fourth quarter on Thursday.

Amazon reported revenue of $110.8 billion in the third quarter, up 15% year-over-year. The revenue figure missed analysts’ estimates of $111.6 billion. Amazon reported earnings per share of $6.12, coming up shy of $8.92 consensus estimate.

Amazon is guiding for fourth-quarter revenue to be in a range of $130 billion to $140 billion, which would be a year-over-year increase of 4% and 12%, respectively. This is below the Street consensus estimate of $142.1 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Guardforce AI Co., Limited GFAI shares shot up 65% to $4.01 after the company said it has engaged Int'l. Investor Relations Co., MZ Group, to lead strategic investor relations and financial communications program.

Shares of A10 Networks, Inc. ATEN got a boost, shooting 25% to $17.32 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results.

Retail Value Inc. RVI shares were also up, gaining 26% to $6.45. Retail Value is expected to release its Q3 earnings on Wednesday, November 3, 2021.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Huadi International Group Co., Ltd. HUDI shares tumbled 32% to $19.35 after gaining 18% on Thursday.

Shares of Onion Global Limited OG were down 29% to $6.39 after the company reported a $25 million private placement.

The Glimpse Group, Inc. VRAR was down, falling 24% to $11.12 after the company reported a $15 million private placement.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $83.14, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,796.80.

Silver traded down 0.2% Friday to $24.08 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.4440.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.7%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.7% and the German DAX 30 declined 1.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4%, French CAC 40 fell 0.6% and Italy’s FTSE MIB declined 0.8%.

Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone increased to 4.1% in October from 3.4% in September. Consumer credit in the UK rose by GBP 0.2 billion in September, while net mortgage borrowing rose to GBP 9.5 billion in September.

Italian gross domestic product expanded by 2.6% quarter-on-quarter during the three months to September, while German economy grew by 1.8% on quarter. Spain's retail sales declined 0.1% from a year ago in September, while the country’s economy grew by 2.0% on quarter in the three months to September. The annual inflation rate in France increased to 2.6% in October from 2.2% in September, while economy grew by 3% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter.

Economics

Compensation costs for civilian workers in the US rose 1.3% on quarter during the three months ending September.

Personal spending in the US rose 0.6% in September, while personal income fell 1.0%.

The Chicago PMI climbed to 68.4 in October from 64.7 in the prior month.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 71.7 in October from a preliminary reading of 71.4.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for September will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here