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Quieter, for Now. Lower-than-expected earnings at Japan’s
NTT Data
(9613.japan) and
Fast Retailing
(9983.japan), owner of the Uniqlo brand, helped send Asian stocks lower. European shares are modestly higher, but U.S. markets seem to have shrugged off that positive cue. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.4%, Nasdaq Composite futures were 0.3% lower and S&P 500 futures were near the break-even line. In today’s Morning Movers, we…
- …Examine earnings again;
- …Check in on upcoming events;
- …And weigh in on the midterms.
Barron’s Briefs
- Buffett Delivers: In other earnings news,
Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B) reported results over the weekend. Don’t forget they have more industrial revenue than
Honeywell(HON) and more railroad revenue than
Union Pacific(UNP). Margins in the industrial business were down year over year as higher costs for raw materials and logistics hit the results. That is consistent with what other industrial companies have reported this quarter.
- Watch the Retailers: About 25% of the S&P 500 companies have yet to report earnings. Retailers are the group with the largest percentage left to take their turn at the lectern. In terms of earnings growth and beating bottom-line estimates, the third quarter has been as good as the second quarter was. That is probably part of the reason the S&P rebounded last week, closing up 2.4%.
- The Conference Carousel: As earnings season wraps up, conference season begins. Management teams meet with investors who will pump companies for information about 2019. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, R.W. Baird and Stifel all host conferences this week. Also, DowDuPont (DWDP) will host investor days to provide additional detail about the three separate companies it is becoming next year.
- And Breaking News! The election, likely to dominate the newswires this week, is Tuesday. The House of Representatives is the focus. RealClearPolitics says 202 House seats are safely in the Democratic camp, 196 are safely in the Republican camp and 37 seats are being closely contested. It takes 218 to have a majority in the House. In the Senate, those ratios at RealClearPolitics are 44 Democratic seats, 50 Republican seats with 6 tossups in the Senate. Check in with Barron’s on Wednesday to learn how the outcome will affect markets.
Numbers By Barron’s is a two-minute financial podcast with three vital numbers to start your morning. Available on iTunes, Stitcher, and wherever you get your podcasts—as well as on your Amazon Alexa smart speaker
Morning Movers
Apple
(AAPL) is down 1.5% to $204.30 on reports it is canceling a production increase for the iPhone XR.
Berkshire Hathaway is up 2.8% to $212.30 after reporting third-quarter earnings. Warren Buffett’s holding company said operating earnings were $6.88 billion, up from $3.44 billion last year.
Diamond Offshore
(DO) is up 3.5% to $14.70 after reporting third-quarter earnings. The oil-field services companies lost 26 cents a share on revenue of $286 million. Analysts were looking for a 35 cent loss on revenue of $281.74 million.
General Electric
(GE) is up 1.1% to $9.40 after CEO Larry Culp disclosed the purchase of 225,000 shares of the company’s stock.
Spotify Technology
(SPOT) is up 2.2% to $142 after authorizing a new $1 billion share repurchase program.
—Teresa Rivas
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
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