American Express Co.  reported third quarter earnings that came in lower than analysts’ expectations.But the credit card company experienced a steady improvement in in current spending volumes. The company’s earnings for the three months ending in September fell -17.1% year-over-year to $1.30 per share, and was lower than the $1.25 anticipated by analysts. Revenues fell -20% to $8.8 billion, but beat analysts' estimates of $8.6 billion . The credit card group said its credit reserves grew by $665 million, leading to to around $7.2 billion as of quarter-end. “While our business continues to be significantly affected by the impacts of the pandemic, our third quarter results have increased our confidence that our strategy for managing through the current environment is the right one,” said CEO Stephen Squeri.

Shares of semiconductor company Intel were down more than -11% Friday morning.It projects fourth quarter revenues of around $17.4 billion. "2020 has been the most challenging year in my career with a global pandemic geopolitical tensions challenging business principles of globalization and social unrest," CEO Bob Swan told investors.

When I first started studying the stock market, one of the first theories on investing that I remember learning about was the Dow Theory. One of the main ideas in Dow Theory is that the transportation companies can be a leading indicator for the overall economy.If transportation companies are seeing a decline in revenue or a slowdown in the demand for their services, it’s a sign that the overall economy is slowing.Conversely, if the transportation companies are seeing an increase in the demand for their services, the economy is set to expand. The Dow Theory will get a partial test on October 27 and 28 as three different trucking companies will report earnings.

However, the airline is has tapered its cash-burn rate. The airline’s third-quarter loss came in at -$1.2 billion, or -$1.96 a share, vs. income of $659 million, or $1.23 a share, in the same period a year ago.Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting a loss of -$2.35 a share. The quarterly operating revenue was $1.8 billion, down -68% year-over-year. As of third quarter-end, Southwest had  liquidity of $15.6 billion, consisting of cash and short-term investments of $14.6 billion and a secured revolving credit facility of $1 billion. The airline’s cash-burn rate, ( measures how much cash an airline is using to continue operations despite losses), was around $16 million per day in the third quarter, an improvement from average core cash burn of approximately $23 million per day in the second quarter.

 However, the beverage behemoth did not  provide a full-year profit guidance amid the coronavirus pandemic.  Coca-Cola’s adjusted non-GAAP earnings for the three months ending in September came in at 55 cents per share, down one penny year-over-year, but beating the Street expectations of 46 cents. Net sales fell -9% to $8.65 billion, beating expectations of $8.36 billion. Organic sales dropped -6%. Unit case volume (which helps measure demand without the impact of pricing or foreign currency) declined -4%. The company mentioned quarter-over-quarter improvements in demand.

The number of Americans applying for initial jobless claims registered a decrease last week, falling below 800,000 for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began to hurt jobs market. According to the Dept.of Labor, 787,000 Americans filed for initial jobless benefits for the week ended Oct. 17, compared to a revised 842,000 the week earlier.

AT&T Inc.  reported third quarter revenues that beat analysts’ expecttions, on strong additions to its media and wireless networks.   The telecom & media giant’s adjusted earnings for the three months ending in September came in at 76 cents per share, quite in-line with Street forecasts . The company estimated a -21 cents per share earnings hit linked to the coronavirus pandemic.  Revenues fell -5.2%year-over-year  to $42.3 billion, but surpassed analysts' expectations of $41.6 billion. According to AT&T, subscribers to its HBO Max streaming service hit 38 million in the U.S. last quarter, pushing  it ahead of its 2020 target.

One particular industry that got my attention was internet/social media. On Thursday, October 29, Facebook (FB), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Twitter (TWTR) will all report earnings results.This case could be the first of many with the goal being to break up some of the large tech giants including Facebook, Amazon, and others. While it will likely take months or years for the legal battles to play out, I want to focus on the earnings reports of the three stocks I mentioned above.

General Motors   announced that its assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee will produce electric vehicles, becoming the company's  third production facility to do so. The Cadillac Lyriq will be the first EV produced at that location. A total of $2 billion will be invested in Spring Hill to build EVs, including the Lyriq. The auto giant already has EV producing facilities at Detroit and Orion Township, Michigan plants.This could be a long-term bullish signal for the stock as the stock shifts to an upward trend. Current price $36.08 is above $35.37 the highest support line found by A.I. Throughout the month of 09/17/20 - 10/19/20, the price experienced a +4% Uptrend.

Spaceflight company Virgin Galactic Holdings  shares climbed Tuesday, after short seller Jim Chanos reportedly said he would go long on any space company that has gone public. Jim Chanos, president and founder of Kynikos Associates of New York, made the comment at Grant’s Fall 2020 conference in New York City, (Reuters reported.) In interviews, Chanos has described his investment strategy focused on fundamental failures in market valuation, from underestimated or unreported failings in the business or the market of a particular stock. On Monday, Virgin Galactic President Mike Moses told New Mexico state lawmakers that the first test space flight from Spaceport America will take place sometime this fall.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed its antitrust case against Google.  The DoJ said the action intended to "restrain Google from unlawfully maintaining monopolies in the markets for general search services, search advertising, and general search text advertising in the United States through anticompetitive and exclusionary practices, and to remedy the effects of this conduct.It would have a fuller statement later Tuesday. Earlier this month, a Congressional report accused Google of favoring its own products in search results.

Microsoft  got a price target hike from Stifel analysts. The analysts raised their price target on the technology behemoth’s shares  to $245 from $220.They also affirmed a buy rating.   The analysts cited their expectations that Microsoft should benefit from faster digital transformation due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as a recuperating world economy.

Amazon’s data and third-party estimates indicate  strong growth in Prime Day sales compared to 2019. According to e-commerce website Digital Commerce 360, Amazon garnered $10.4 billion worth of sales globally on Oct. 13 and 14 as its Prime Day event began.The estimate represents a 45.2% increase relative to the $7.16 billion in sales estimated for Amazon’s July 2019 Prime Day event. A day earlier, Amazon claimed that its marketplace sellers generated more than $3.5 billion in sales across the 19 countries in which Prime Day was held on Oct. 13 and 14.

Gold prices hit a six-month high on Wednesday as concerns over global growth and a partial government shutdown in the United States fueled risk aversion, prompting investors to seek refuge in the metal. READ MORE...

Zoom Video Communications  got analyst target-price hikes, on  the launch of its new features.  Zoom launched several features including events platform OnZoom yesterday. AllianceBernstein almost tripled its share-price target on the audio-video communications company to a Wall Street high $611, from $228.RBC said it had increased conviction in the potential for durable hypergrowth, with a potential path to 60% growth next year. Both Rosenblatt Securities and Piper Sandler also hiked their share-price targets on Zoom, to $450 from $350 and to $501 from $411 respectively. According to Tickeron,  Technical Analysis (Indicators) Bearish Trend Analysis The 10-day RSI Indicator for ZM moved out of overbought territory on October 14, 2020.

The odds of a continued downward trend are 50%. Following a 3-day decline, the stock is projected to fall further.The odds of a continued upward trend are 50%. The Aroon Indicator entered an Uptrend today.

Netflix (NFLX) is one of the companies that seems to be benefitting. The company is set to report third quarter earnings results on October 20 and it is expected to show earnings growth of 44.9% over the third quarter of last year.The company’s return on equity is well above average at 29.1% while the profit margin is slightly below average at 10.2%. Looking at the Tickeron Scorecard for Netflix we see that the stock is rated as a “strong buy”.

Peloton Interactive  got price target raise from Truist Securities analyst Youssef Squali. Squali boosted his share-price target on the exercise-equipment/software company to a Wall Street high $144 from $115.He has a buy rating on the shares. "Shelter-in-place practices have created the perfect environment for greater adoption of home exercise equipment, and for Peloton (#1 sought-after brand) through a combination of high quality products/service, easy financing, greater brand awareness and a strong logistics platform," Squali wrote in a commentary. Truist in a survey found that more than half of respondents have canceled their gym memberships or plan to do so.

Zoom Video Communications  introduced several new features Wednesday, including a events platform. The platform, called OnZoom, allows users “to create and host free, paid, and fundraising events,” Zoom Video said in a statement. According to Zoom, hosts can grow their businesses, and expand their reach into new audiences, and give back through native donation integration, via OnZoom.The odds of a continued upward trend are 90%. The Aroon Indicator entered an Uptrend today.

Wells Fargo third-quarter earnings fell short of analysts' expectations, on net interest income drop. The bank’s  the third quarter earnings came in at 42 cents a share, for, vs. declining from the year-ago quarter’s  92 cents a share.However, it managed to beat FactSet estimates of $18 billion.  Commercial loans were down $30 billion year-over-year, suggesting  lower loan demand as well as loan pay-downs, Wells Fargo said. According to Tickeron, WFC in -5.03% downward trend, sliding for three consecutive days on September 23, 2020 Moving lower for three straight days is viewed as a bearish sign.