Stocks Move To New Highs As Traders Stay Focused On Strong Earnings Season

Strong Earnings Reports Provide Support To S&P 500

S&P 500 futures are moving higher in premarket trading as traders focus on strong earnings reports.

Shares of Facebook are gaining ground in premarket action after the company’s third-quarter earnings beat analyst estimates. Facebook missed estimates on revenue and provided modest guidance for the fourth-quarter, but the $50 billion increase in the company’s share repurchase authorization provided sufficient support for the stock.

Big names like General Electric and Eli Lilly are also moving higher after solid earnings reports, which provides additional support to the market.

All Eyes On Consumer Confidence Report

Today, traders will have a chance to take a look at Consumer Confidence report for October which may have a material impact on the market as it is released just one week ahead of the key Fed meeting.

Analysts expect that Consumer Confidence declined from 109.3 in September to 108.3 in October. Meanwhile, New Home Sales report is projected to show that New Home Sales grew by 1% month-over-month in September.

Case-Shiller Home Price Index is projected to indicate that home prices continued to grow at a robust pace and increased by 1.5% month-over-month in August. On a year-over-year basis, home prices are projected to grow by 20%.

Gold Slips Back Below The $1800 Level

Gold failed to gain additional upside momentum and declined below the $1800 level as demand for safe-haven assets decreased. The U.S. dollar was mostly flat against a broad basket of currencies while the yield of 10-year Treasuries remained stuck near 1.63%.

Gold’s move is bad news for gold mining stocks which managed to gain solid upside momentum in recent weeks. The stock market is trading at all-time high levels while inflation worries remain under control, which may present a problem for gold.

It should be noted that silver failed to settle above $24.50 and managed to get below the nearest support level at $24.30, so the start of today’s trading session will be challenging for silver mining stocks.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.