New York Stock Market Mixed in Early Trading... Taking a Breather Amid Earnings Season

Morgan Stanley Surges About 8% on Surprise Earnings
ASML Falls Over 5% Amid China Business Reduction Outlook
TSMC and Netflix Earnings Scheduled for Release Today

The three major indices of the U.S. New York Stock Exchange showed mixed trends in the early trading session on the 16th (local time). Investors are digesting the earnings season that began in earnest late last week and are closely watching the September retail sales data to be released the next day.

As of 10:11 a.m. in the New York stock market, the blue-chip-focused Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.43% from the previous trading day, standing at 42,922.84. The large-cap-focused S&P 500 index rose 0.12% to 5,822.42, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq index traded down 0.15% at 18,287.98.

By individual stocks, Morgan Stanley, which beat market expectations in both third-quarter sales and earnings, surged 7.85%. Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML, which plunged the previous day due to expectations of reducing its China business exposure, was down 5.48%. Nvidia rebounded 0.57% after falling the previous day. News that the U.S. government is considering setting country-specific limits on AI semiconductor exports by U.S. companies including Nvidia caused Nvidia to drop 4.52% the day before.

On Wall Street, opinions are divided between forecasts that market volatility will increase for the time being due to uncertainty surrounding the U.S. presidential election on November 5 and analyses that see this as a buying opportunity.

Brin Turkington, Managing Partner at Liquidity Capital Management, said, "Investors may see stock market fluctuations over the next few weeks as they go through the earnings season and the election period."

Craig Johnson, Market Strategist at Piper Sandler, said, "The stock market has reached new highs and succumbed to some profit-taking, but the upward trend remains intact, so the pullback is expected to be short-term. We view the (short-term) decline within the uptrend as a buying opportunity."

Investors are focusing on the September retail sales data to be released by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the 17th. Experts expect retail sales last month to have increased by 0.3% compared to the previous month, a larger increase than August's 0.1%. Some on Wall Street, including Bank of America (BoA), predict that retail sales may have risen by 0.8% last month. If retail sales prove stronger than expected following a significant increase in September nonfarm payrolls, the no-landing scenario?where the U.S. economy continues to grow without a recession?will gain more weight.

Corporate earnings announcements continue. On this day, Taiwanese semiconductor company TSMC and Netflix are scheduled to report their earnings.

Government bond yields are weak. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield, a global bond yield benchmark, fell 2 basis points (1 bp = 0.01 percentage points) from the previous trading day to 4%, while the 2-year Treasury yield traded down 3 basis points to around 3.92%.

International oil prices are steady amid Middle East uncertainties. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil rose $0.18 (0.26%) from the previous trading day to $70.76 per barrel, and Brent crude, the global oil price benchmark, increased $0.18 (0.24%) to $74.43 per barrel. The previous day, international oil prices fell more than 4% after reports that Israel conveyed to the U.S. its intention to target military facilities rather than Iranian nuclear or oil facilities, easing supply concerns.