US open: Stocks trade higher as Fed speak remains in focus

Wall Street trading got off to a positive start on Friday as market participants digested comments from Federal Reserve bankers James Bullard and Susan Collins.

As of 1530 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.37% at 33,671.15, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.31% to 3,958.87 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.12% weaker at 11,157.82.

The Dow opened 124.83 points higher on Friday, easily reversing losses recorded in the previous session after St Louis Fed president James Bullard delivered a hawkish speech, stating that the central bank's interest rate target would need to be raised further to bring inflation down. Bullard's speech was accompanied by a chart, which apparently suggested he saw rates in the 5-7% range as being appropriate going forward - higher than the market has priced in.

Also drawing an amount of attention, particularly following Bullard's comments on Thursday, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston president Susan Collins said she was confident that the central bank can tame inflation without doing too much damage to employment.

As far as Friday's data points go, the Conference Board's leading index decreased by 0.8% in October to 114.9, following a 0.5% decline in September. Following the drop, the index is now down 3.2% over the six months ended 31 October 2022, a reversal from its 0.5% growth over the previous six months.

Elsewhere, existing home sales declined for the ninth month in a row in October, with higher interest rates and surging inflation keeping buyers on the sidelines. Sales of previously owned homes dropped 5.9% month-on-month, according to the National Association of Realtors, the slowest clip since December 2011, except for a very brief drop at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The October reading left sales at a seasonally adjusted, annualised pace of 4.43m - 28.4% lower than at the same time a year earlier.

"By raising rates, we are aiming to slow the economy and bring labor demand into better balance with supply," she said. "The intent is not a significant downturn. But restoring price stability remains the current imperative and it is clear that there is more work to do."

In the corporate space, Foot Locker beat Wall Street expectations on third-quarter profit on Friday, as well as an unexpected rise in same-store sales as the retailer lifted its full-year expectations. The New York-based footwear and clothing retailer reported net income of $96m or $1.01 per share for the period, down from$158m or $1.52 per share year-on-year. Adjusted earnings, excluding non-recurring items, came in at $1.27 per share, beating the $1.11 economists had pencilled in.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $47.54 2.04%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $524.57 1.80%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $103.58 1.25%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $149.66 1.12%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $184.84 1.04%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $38.52 0.94%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $314.37 0.94%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $141.79 0.65%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $61.07 0.59%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $40.36 0.57%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $180.94 -1.71%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $147.78 -1.28%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $49.67 -0.92%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $240.25 -0.59%
Visa Inc. (V) $210.00 -0.47%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $150.13 -0.39%
3M Co. (MMM) $126.78 -0.29%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $91.26 -0.21%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $29.84 -0.17%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $230.23 -0.09%

S&P 500 - Risers

Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $110.40 12.73%
Foot Locker Inc. (FL) $36.78 11.45%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $13.84 8.89%
Bath & Body Works, Inc. (BBWI) $40.28 3.36%
Resmed Inc. (RMD) $225.61 3.03%
Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) $37.22 2.96%
VF Corp. (VFC) $33.51 2.79%
Keysight Technologies Inc. (KEYS) $170.51 2.70%
Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) $79.87 2.53%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $220.01 2.39%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Diamondback Energy Inc. (FANG) $153.05 -5.40%
FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $11.90 -3.95%
Eog Resources Inc. (EOG) $138.98 -3.82%
Hess Corp. (HES) $141.33 -3.64%
Apache Corp. (APA) $45.24 -3.62%
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $247.60 -3.49%
Halliburton Co. (HAL) $36.19 -3.42%
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $68.57 -3.41%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $30.25 -3.36%
HF Sinclair Corporation (DINO) $63.30 -2.88%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $110.40 12.73%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $59.68 2.16%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $47.54 2.04%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $14.23 2.01%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $11.74 1.69%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $31.16 1.53%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $441.28 1.51%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $941.12 1.51%
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $172.78 1.50%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $80.33 1.43%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $67.65 -4.72%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $177.52 -3.08%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $96.75 -2.85%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $28.34 -2.85%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $374.98 -1.81%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $2.04 -1.69%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $290.79 -1.52%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $154.48 -1.46%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $146.94 -1.26%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $333.80 -1.19%