Morning Market Report

Yesterday was a relatively quiet day in the markets. The Dow was 14.74 points to 9871.06. The NASDAQ was up .75 points to 2139. 89, and the S&P 500 was down 3 points to 1073.18. That likely won't hold today. With earnings season in full swing, the big news this morning is from JP Morgan Chase. They crushed their estimates, mostly through investment banking business. That's not only sent the stock itself up but much of the market with it.

JPMorgan shares were up 2.4 percent in premarket trading after the Wall Street giant posted quarterly earnings of 82 cents per share, beating estimates of 52 cents per share.

Stocks were headed for a positive open before the JPMorgan numbers after
Intel reported much stronger-than-expected earnings and a more bullish forecast than anticipated Tuesday. Intel shares gained 4.7 percent premarket.

There's other breaking economic news. Retail sales fell in September but less than expected. Retail sales fell by 1.5%. The consensus was a drop of 2.1%. On the other hand, August numbers were revised to an increase of 2.2%. It was first reported as an increase of 2.7%. This was due mostly to the hangover from the cash for clunkers ending.

Finally, mortgage applications fell as rates moved up above 5% at the end of last week. Bonds look weaker this morning. The ten year U.S. Treasury bond is now at 3.41%. That continues an up trend that began mid day Thursday and has continued nearly uninterrupted. Oil is up slightly this morning. It's currently trading $74.70 a barrel. That's up about 50 cents a barrel from yesterday's close but still up nearly $10 a barrel in about two weeks.

Markets all around the world were up nearly universally. The Hang Seng in China was up 1.95%, the NIKKEI in Japan was down .16%, and the Straits Time Index in Singapore was up 1.5%. In Europe, the FTSE in London was up 1.98%, the DAX in Germany was up 2.4%, and the Spanish Index was up 2.03%.


The Dollar, meanwhile, looks to be weaker against the major currencies in the world. It's down by .24% against the Euro, down .38% against the British Pound, and down .11% against the Japanese Yen.