Overnight loses quicky negated
The Market:
In the overnight session the S&P 500 futures lost roughly 20 points and it appeared to be signaling for a rough Thursday but then recouped nearly all the loses by the open and managed to rally for the majority of the day. All 4 indices from the WSC Scoreboard finished higher with the Dow (DIA) leading the charge helped immensely by Visa (V) which finished the session up 10.24% after reporting better than expected EPS and a new $5B Share Repurchase program yesterday after the close.
In Individual sectors the clear standout was the Utilities (XLU) which gained 2.2%. If you recall we noted the strength the XLU showed during the recent market decline and often what shows strength in a bad tape leads in a good tape. HealthCare (XLV) also put in a strong showing finishing up 1.84%. Lagging today was Transportation (IYT) which closed down 1.07%.
In Economic data the U.S. GDP grew 3.5% in Q3 which was better than analysts expected while Unemployment Claims ticked slightly higher.
Reporting EPS 10/31/14 Pre-Market:
Analyst Comments: