REUTERS/David Gray
A member of the public takes a photograph of a sculpture by artist Lucy Humphrey titled 'horizon' on a rocky cliff which is part of the "Sculpture by the Sea" exhibition at Sydney's Tamarama Beach, October 24, 2013.
First, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 15,554.0, +34.8, +0.2%
- S&P 500: 1,756.6, +4.6 +0.2%
- NASDAQ: 3,936.2, +7.3, +0.1%
And now the top stories:
- Today's market action was really driven by Microsoft and Amazon. Both companies announced Q3 financial results Thursday afternoon that pleased investors.
- Microsoft reported quarterly revenue and earnings that topped expectations.
- Amazon reported that its Q3 revenue climbed 24% year-over-year to $17.1 billion, beating analysts expectations. The company actually booked a net loss of $0.09 per share. But that had little negative effect. In fact, the stock price surged 9%. Stifel analyst Jordan Rohan raised his price target on the stock to $400 per share, a level we haven't heard of since the dotcom bubble.
- U.S. durable goods orders climbed 3.7% in September, beating economists expectation for a 2.3% gain. But this was largely driven by aircraft orders. Orders of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft (a.k.a. "core capex") unexpectedly fell 1.1%; economists were looking for a 1.0% gain.
- Don't Miss: A Frightening New 'Shadow Consensus' Is Emerging On The Future Of The American Economy »