Stock market today: live updates

New homes sold quickly in September while prices rose, the Census Bureau reported Thursday.

Single-family new home sales were a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 738,000, up 4.1% from the downward-revised total in August and up 6.3% from a year ago. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected 720,000.

The median sales price was $426,300, an increase of more than $15,000.

–Jeff Cox

A purchasing managers' survey for October suggested stronger growth in the services sector, while manufacturing posted another contraction.

The S&P Global Flash US Composite Indices for the month showed a reading of 55.3, up slightly from September and in line with the Dow Jones estimate. In manufacturing, the index was at 47.8, a reading still in contraction territory but half a point better than September and above the forecast of 47.5.

The PMI measures the proportion of companies reporting expansion. So anything below 50 indicates a decline.

In the surveys, the price-linked inflation measure reached its lowest level since May 2020 and manufacturing optimism hit a 29-month high.

–Jeff Cox

Initial jobless claims fell last week as the impact of recent hurricanes and the Boeing strike faded.

Jobless claims for the week ended Oct. 19 were a seasonally adjusted 227,000, down 15,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised level but well below the Dow Jones estimate of 245,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

However, ongoing claims, which are a week in arrears, rose to just under 1.9 million, the highest level since November 13, 2021.

According to unadjusted data, claims rose by 4,275 in storm-ravaged Florida but fell by 2,888 in North Carolina. Michigan, affected by the Boeing impasse, saw a decline of 1,720.

–Jeff Cox

These are some of the stocks moving during premarket trading on Thursday:

• Tesla – Shares of the electric vehicle maker rose nearly 13% thanks to the company's better-than-expected third-quarter profit. According to CEO Elon Musk, the company also expects vehicle growth of 20 to 30 percent next year.
• United Parcel Service – The package delivery stock rose more than 7% after the company posted a rise in third-quarter profit and revenue. In the period, UPS earned $1.76 per share on revenue of $22.25 billion, beating LSEG consensus estimates of $1.63 per share and $22.14 billion.
• Lam Research – The stock rose more than 6% after the semiconductor equipment maker's first-quarter numbers beat Wall Street expectations. The company reported profit of 86 cents per share on revenue of $4.16 billion, above the consensus estimate of 80 cents per share on revenue of $4.05 billion, per LSEG.

The full list can be found here.

—Sean Conlon

Tesla Shares rose more than 13% in premarket trading Thursday after the electric vehicle maker beat Wall Street's expectations for third-quarter earnings per share.

The company earned an adjusted 72 cents per share, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected just 58 cents per share. On the other hand, Tesla's revenue of $25.18 billion was below the consensus forecast of $25.37 billion.

CEO Elon Musk said on the earnings call that next year's “best estimate” vehicle growth would be between 20% and 30%. That's because of the lower cost of vehicles and autonomy, he said.

With this profit, Tesla led both S&P 500 And Nasdaq 100 in pre-market trading.

— Alex Harring, Lora Kolodny

Honeywell Shares fell 3% after the industrial giant reported mixed third-quarter results.

The company earned $2.58 per share, beating the LSEG estimate of $2.50 per share. However, revenue came in at $9.73 billion, below the consensus forecast of $9.9 billion. Sales at Honeywell's aerospace and industrial automation divisions were slightly below estimates.

According to KeyBanc, the lack of upside in Verizon stock is pushing the company down.

“We see limited opportunity to significantly accelerate VCG (Verizon Consumer Group) postpaid phone network growth without gradually increasing device subsidies, which will impact profitability,” analyst Brandon Nispel wrote on Wednesday. “We also believe that VZ’s acquisition of FYBR is a poor capital allocation decision given the alternative to share repurchases.”

The company downgraded the telecom stock to “Sector Weight” from “Overweight” and declined to provide a price target. Verizon stock has gained about 14% in 2024.

—Brian Evans

Although UBS expects to underperform the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index (BKX) in 2024 Regions Finance The stock could catch up.

“From here, stocks should benefit from relatively low expectations, lower risk of regulatory earnings hits and low valuation (on earnings) relative to peers,” analyst Matt O-Connor wrote on Wednesday.

The analyst upgraded the bank's stock to “buy” from “hold” and raised his price target to $26 per share from $24. The UBS forecast implies a rise of nearly 10% from Wednesday's closing price of $23.64.

“Some risks, in our view, appear to have been largely eliminated or have abated,” O-Connor added, including potentially higher costs from modernizing its lending and deposit systems. “However, this has not been the case so far and mgmt has indicated that costs will simply increase by 2-2.5% in 2025,” he said.

—Brian Evans

Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell on Thursday after U.S. stocks fell overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its worst day in more than a month.

In Asia, South Korea narrowly avoided a technical recession as its GDP grew 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter after contracting 0.2% in the second quarter. However, it fell short of Reuters estimates of 0.5% growth.

Year-on-year, South Korea's economy grew 1.5%, which was also slower than the 2% increase expected by economists.

In Hong Kong, shares of Beijing-based autonomous driving company Horizon Robotics rose as much as 37.8% in its trading debut on Thursday, but later pared gains to 6.26%.

—Lim Hui Jie

European stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday as traders reviewed another batch of earnings reports.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.25% in opening trading, with the majority of major exchanges and sectors trading in positive territory. Travel and leisure stocks rose 1.13%, while retail stocks led losses with a 0.24% decline.

Britain's FTSE 100 index opened 0.55% higher at 8,304, Germany's DAX rose 0.47% to 19,460, France's CAC rose 0.48% to 7,533 and Italy's FTSE MIB rose 0.45% 34,888.

Nine of the 11 GICS sectors ended Wednesday's trading session in the red.

The consumer discretionary sector was the biggest laggard, falling 1.8%. Real estate, on the other hand, increased by 1% and performed best.

10 of the 11 sectors are on track to end the week in negative territory. Consumer discretionary stocks were once again the worst performers, falling 2.7% across the board. The utilities sector remained unchanged over the week and led the way.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Christopher Hayes

These are the stocks moving the most in after-hours trading:

• Tesla shares rose 9%. The electric vehicle maker reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of 72 cents per share, beating Wall Street estimates of 58 cents per LSEG.
• International Business Machines – The technology giant fell 3% on Wednesday after reporting mixed third-quarter results.
• T-Mobile US – The telecommunications giant rose about 3% after reporting a positive third-quarter earnings surprise.

Read the full list of stock moves here.

—Lisa Kailai Han