Wall Street kicks off on the front foot

Wall Street kicks off on the front foot

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The main Wall Street indices started Thursday’s session on a positive footing, continuing the market’s bullish run as the election outcome remained in doubt. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.57% at 28,285, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.68% to 3,502 and the Nasdaq rose 1.69% at 11,786. Aside from the electoral uncertainty, traders have also shrugged off a worse than expected set of jobless claims figures, which indicate that the US unemployment rate still remains highly elevated as the coronavirus rips through the country and the economy. In terms of the election results, Nevada and Georgia seem set to be called today as the remaining ballots are counted. Biden holds a thin lead in Nevada while Trump has a very slight edge in Georgia, however Biden will secure victory if he manages to win either state. 7.53am: Wall Street to open higher It’s all systems go for US equities as traders wait for further electoral revelations. Spread betting quotes indicate the Dow Jones will open 367 points higher at 28,215; the S&P 500 is tipped to jump 58 points to 3,501 and the NASDAQ Composite is on course to rise 486 points to 12,077. “Whatever the ultimate outcome of the race for the White House, it is clear the Democrats have not performed as well as the polls predicted. The ‘triple blue’ wave which they hoped would deliver them all three branches of the US government is unlikely. Now gridlock within the US government is expected to continue as market participants are forced to unwind their positions based on the ‘triple blue’ scenario,” said Naoya Oshikubo, the senior economist at SuMi TRUST. “Cyclical stocks that had been bought with hopes for economic recovery and high-interest rates have fallen back, while large scale high-tech stocks have been repurchased. Without the expected blue wave the Democrats will have less power to tighten regulations on large corporations, and this has helped support high-tech and healthcare stocks in particular,” he noted. On the subject of tech stocks, silicon chip giant Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) has delivered a “barnstorming set of fourth-quarter results”, according to AJ Bell’s investment director, Russ Mould. “San Diego-headquartered Qualcomm, which designs and licenses chip designs as well as manufacturing the physical products, cited 5G mobile telephony as a key driver of sales in the quarter; however, management is also looking forward to further strength in areas such as automotive and Internet of Things connectivity in its new fiscal year and beyond,” Mould noted. On the macroeconomic data front, the first estimates of US productivity and unit labor costs for the third quarter are scheduled for today alongside US jobless claims figures. Five things to watch for on Thursday: State electoral calls will continue to dominate market attention, with Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania the only ones yet to be called for Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Arizona will also be in focus as continued vote counting there shows Biden’s lead narrowing despite two networks calling the state for the former Vice-President previously Most outstanding races in the Senate and the House of Representatives will also continue to drip through, adding clarity to the makeup of Congress for the next two years. Of particular interest will be two Senate races in Georgia, both of which could head for run-off votes in January The other key event on Thursday will be the latest interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve and any accompanying commentary from its chair Jerome Powell. It is the first time a meeting of the Fed has been held alongside a US election since 1984 In the earnings calendar, major reporters include pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) and mobile network operator T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) The macro diary will bring the latest data set for US weekly jobless claims for the week to October 31. Forecasts predict the figure will be 745,000, slightly lower than the previous week’s number of 751,000

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