What you need to know on Wall Street today
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley both reported third quarter earnings on Tuesday, and both beat handily.
Goldman Sachs posted earnings per share of $5.02, way ahead of the $4.19 number expected by analysts. The beat was driven by a bump in investing and lending revenue, and was boosted by a strong performance in debt underwriting, where the bank goes from strength to strength.
Fixed income trading remains a problem, however, with CFO Marty Chavez letting slip just how badly the commodities business is doing.
Morgan Stanley crushed Wall Street expectations for third-quarter, thanks to strong performance from its dealmakers and its wealth-management unit. The investment bank reported earnings of $0.93 a share, while analysts were expecting earnings of $0.81 a share.
In other finance news, an activist hedge fund backed by a former top Credit Suisse executive wants to break up the bank. Private equity firms seem to be the new titans of Wall Street, and they're crushing it this year. And a huge chunk of men who rule corporate America would prefer if everyone focused less on diversity.
In a note to clients, Marc Faber, author of influential "Gloom, Doom, and Boom" report, said "thank God white people populated America, not the blacks."
In markets news, the Dow Jones industrial average breached the 23,000 mark for the first time on Tuesday, helped by a rally in shares of UnitedHealth and Johnson & Johnson. Still, a stock market correction is "looking more likely," according to Morgan Stanley.
The shareholder list of Meredith Corporation highlights a tug-of-war in the stock market. It's time to think about active money management again, according to Legg Mason. And the next year will be very difficult for investors to predict, according to JPMorgan.
Allergan's unusual deal with a Native American tribe could be backfiring.
In tech news, Netflix crushed its Q3 subscriber growth targets, blowing past them on both the domestic and international fronts by adding 5.3 million total. And Netflix's top execs all wore ugly "Stranger Things" sweaters on the earnings call, highlighting an important new business.
Amazon is adding 1 million square feet of warehouse space a week, according to Jefferies, and is not slowing down anytime soon. And Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella nailed his annual report card - netting him a cool $20 million.
Lastly, hilarious listing photos show what not to do when putting your house on the market.