US Stocks Set To Open Higher As Tesla's Strong Profit Margins Win Over Wall Street: Wharton Economist Says 'Under-Loved' Bull Market Could See 'Significant Upside'

Investors could see some respite on Wall Street as the index futures point to a positive start on Thursday after three straight days of losses. EV giant Tesla Inc. TSLA blew past expectations in terms of margins and earnings per share (EPS), although it missed revenue expectations.

Dow Jones experienced its worst session in over a month, while megacap stocks like Nvidia Corp. NVDA and Apple Inc. AAPL fell by over 2%. Amid this, Nvidia supplier SK Hynix reported a record quarterly profit on the back of a boom in artificial intelligence.

Boeing Co. BA reported a loss in its third quarter, while AT&T T posted better-than-expected earnings.

Tesla will be among the stocks in focus today. Dow Inc. DOW, American Airlines Group Inc. AAL, United Parcel Service Inc. UPS, Honeywell International Inc. HON, Northrop Grumman Corp. NOC, and Southwest Airlines Co. LUV are scheduled to announce their earnings today.

Investors will also keep a close eye on Boeing after its machinists rejected a 35% wage hike deal and extended their ongoing strike against the company. Workers were dissatisfied with the pension plan and wanted a bigger hike to deal with a rise in the cost of living.

FuturesPerformance (+/-)
Nasdaq 1000.75%
S&P 5000.40%
Dow Jones-0.11%
R2K0.43%

In premarket trading on Thursday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.42% to $580.42 and the Invesco QQQ ETF QQQ surged 0.77% to $492.14, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From Last Session:

Along with the Dow, the Nasdaq Composite recorded its third straight session in the red, dragged down by tech stocks.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with consumer discretionary, information technology, and communication services stocks recording the biggest losses on Wednesday. However, real estate and utilities stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session higher.

Rising treasury yields and the possible outcome of the Nov. 5 presidential election results played on the minds of investors.

IndexPerformance (+/-)Value
Nasdaq Composite-1.60%18,276.65
S&P 500-0.92%5,797.42
Dow Jones-0.96%42,514.95
Russell 2000-0.79%2,213.84

Insights From Analysts:

Following six consecutive weeks of gains, the markets have remained gloomy this week, with tech stocks offering some respite amid sideways movements in most other sectors.

Benchmark US 10-year treasury yields remain in focus, which rose to their highest mark since July.

On the economic data front, U.S. existing home sales declined 1% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 3.84 million in September.

The International Monetary Fund, though, expects U.S. growth to remain strong. According to its latest World Economic Outlook report, the IMF revised its projected U.S. GDP growth rate to 2.8%, up from its previous projection of 2.6%.

"On the equity front, corporate earnings are strong and with the VIX (the CBOE’s volatility index) still elevated around 20, this is not the backdrop for the start of a bear market," explained WisdomTree and Wharton School economist Jeremy Siegel.

"The current under-loved bull market could see significant upside. While I’m not predicting a ‘melt-up,’ it is important to acknowledge the market’s upward momentum could continue as fundamentals remain supportive,” Siegel added.

See Also: Best Futures Trading Software

Upcoming Economic Data:

  • Data on initial jobless claims is scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
  • Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack is scheduled to speak at 8:45 a.m. ET.
  • New home sales data is scheduled to be released at 10 a.m. ET.

Stocks In Focus:

  • Tesla will stay in focus after beating margin and EPS estimates in its third-quarter earnings.
  • IBM IBM missed third-quarter revenue estimates on account of a drag in consulting revenue.
  • AT&T added over 403,000 new monthly subscribers in the third quarter, reporting $30.2 billion in revenue.

Commodities, Bonds And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures rose in the early New York session, surging over 1.5% as data showed a rise in spot demand.

The 10-year Treasury note yield fell marginally to 4.192%.

Asian markets were mixed on Thursday, with Chinese markets edging lower while Japan's Nikkei 225 rose.

European stocks moved past tentativeness in early trading, surging after a gloomy week so far.

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