New orders for durable goods fell more than expected in October as orders for motor vehicles and parts fell during strikes by the United Auto Workers (UAW).

Economists expected them to fall 3.2% in October following a 4.7% gain in the preceding month, but the Commerce Department's Census Bureau unveiled a 5.4% drop last month.

Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims came in lower than expected last week, with 209,000 claims, instead of 227,000 expected in a Bloomberg consensus. The market did not react much after the release of the data.

Yesterday saw two important events: the release of the minutes of the latest Fed meeting and Nvidia's results. As expected, the Fed minutes showed that the central bank is keeping its hawkish stance, reiterating that rates need to stay higher for longer to curb inflation.

Meanwhile, Nvidia published very good results and a higher-than-expected outlook, but this failed to spark much enthusiasm among investors. The stock even lost ground on Wall Street after the close. The basic assumption that the AI boom is an underlying trend has been confirmed, and investors were expecting that Nvidia would be doing well. After all, Nvidia has more than tripled its revenues in the space of a year. However, the group has acknowledged that it is penalized by the technological restrictions imposed by the United States on China. Prior to these results, Wall Street had cautiously "consolidated its positions", a linguistic device used in finance to designate a fall after a series of rises. The Nasdaq 100 was down 0.66%, while the S&P500 and Dow Jones returned 0.2%. 

The OpenAI drama continues. The firm just announced the return of Sam Altman as CEO. The board has already been reshuffled, with only Adam D'Angelo remaining from the old configuration. The new team includes Bret Taylor (Chairman) and Larry Summers.

On X, Sam Altman said: "I love OpenAI, and everything I've done over the past few days has been done with the goal of keeping this team and its mission together. When I decided to join Microsoft on Sunday evening, it was clear that this was the best path for me and the team. With the new board and the support of Satya, I look forward to returning to OpenAI and strengthening our strong partnership with Microsoft." Some 700 of the company’s 770 employees had threatened to resign if Sam Altman did not return.

Another drama is also unfolding, this time in the world of crypto-currencies, which was once again rocked by the Binance case: the group and its CEO Changpeng Zao pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering. They were accused of facilitating the financing of terrorist organizations and other bad actors in defiance of injunctions. The executive resigned and the company will have to pay $4.3 billion in penalties, in addition to a five-year monitoring period and punitive restrictions, including Binance's complete withdrawal from the USA. Changpeng Zao, a Canadian citizen born in China, will have to answer for his actions in court.

Oil prices declined sharply today, weighing on energy stocks, after data from the American Petroleum Institute revealed a large weekly build in US crude stockpiles. Tomorrow, Wall Street will be closed for the Thanksgiving Day holiday and will open half a day on Black Friday.

Today's economic highlights:

Durable goods orders, weekly jobless claims, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index and DOE oil inventories are on the agenda.

The dollar is rising against all major currencies, to EUR 0.9191 and GBP 0.8008. An ounce of gold is trading at USD 1999. Oil tumbled, with North Sea Brent at USD 78.91 a barrel and US light crude WTI at USD 74.18. The yield on 10-year US debt stands at 4.41%. Bitcoin is trading at around USD 36,500.

In corporate news:

  • Nvidia on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected sales forecast for the fourth quarter, citing smoother supply chains, but anticipates sluggish sales in China. Nvidia said sales for the current quarter should come in at $20 billion, with a 2% margin of error. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting an average of $17.86 billion. The stock was down 1.6% in pre-market electronic trading.
  • Microsoft - OpenAI said on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement for Sam Altman to resume his position as CEO a few days after his sudden ousting. Sam Altman had meanwhile agreed to join Microsoft. Microsoft shares gained 0.4% in pre-market trading.
  • Deere - The agricultural equipment manufacturer forecast 2024 earnings below analysts' expectations on Wednesday, hit by weakening demand. The group is forecasting net income for 2024 of between $7.75 and $8.25 billion, against a consensus of $9.33 billion. The share price fell by 5.9% before the opening, dragging down competitor Caterpillar, which lost 1.9%.
  • Walt Disney said Tuesday that new collective bargaining agreements signed with the Directors Guild of America, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA will increase content creation costs. The group expects its capital expenditure for fiscal 2024 to be around $6 billion, and spending on produced and licensed content to be around $25 billion.
  • HP Inc - The PC manufacturer is down 2.8% in pre-market trading, as the company reported below-consensus earnings. Fourth-quarter sales came to $13.82 billion, compared with analysts' estimates of $13.85 billion.
  • Autodesk reported an annual sales forecast above market estimates on Tuesday, a sign that demand for its design software remains resilient. Autodesk forecasts annual sales of between $5.45 and $5.47 billion, against a consensus of $5.43 billion. Piper Sandler lowers its recommendation from "overweight" to "neutral", and the stock loses 5%.
  • Nordstrom - The department store chain fell more than 3% in after-hours trading on Tuesday, with third-quarter sales down 6.4% to $3.32 billion, against consensus of $3.40 billion.
  • Guess - The clothing retailer plunged 13.8% before the opening, with the group forecasting adjusted earnings per share for fiscal 2024 of between 2.67 and 2.74 dollars, against a consensus of 2.96 dollars.
  • Ford Motor will reduce investment, capacity and the number of jobs planned for an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Michigan that has drawn the ire of US lawmakers for its use of technology supplied by Chinese battery manufacturer CATL. Ford now plans to reduce the plant's capacity from 35 to 20 gigawatt-hours, and cut the number of new hires from 2,500 to 1,700.
  • Airbnb - Canada on Tuesday introduced tax measures limiting income tax deductions for short-term rentals.

Analyst recommendations:

  • Agilent Technologies, Inc.: Wells Fargo maintains its overweight rating and reduces the target price from USD 160 to USD 145.
  • Anglo American Plc: Liberum upgrades to buy from hold with a price target raised from GBX 2070 to GBX 2500.
  • Ashtead Group Plc: RBC Capital maintains its sector perform recommendation with a price target reduced from 5500 to GBX 5300.
  • Astrazeneca Plc: Berenberg maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from USD 76 to USD 78.
  • Autodesk, Inc.: Piper Sandler & Co downgrades to neutral from overweight with a price target reduced from USD 240 to USD 215.
  • Autozone, Inc.: Truist Securities maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from USD 2863 to USD 2933.
  • Bank Of Montreal: CIBC Capital Markets maintains a neutral recommendation with a price target reduced from 120 to CAD 115.
  • Best Buy Co., Inc.: Barclays maintains its equalweight recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 80 to USD 69.
  • Burberry Group Plc: Barclays maintains its equalweight recommendation and reduces the target price from 22.30 to GBP 18.
  • Corteva, Inc.: ROTH MKM maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 82 to USD 63.
  • Electronic Arts Inc.: Baptista Research maintains its hold recommendation and raises the target price from USD 135.10 to USD 147.
  • Estee Lauder: Baptista Research downgrades to hold from outperform with a price target reduced from USD 193.10 to USD 136.
  • Exelon Corporation: Morningstar downgrades to hold from buy with a price target reduced from USD 42 to USD 40.
  • Glencore Plc: Liberum downgrades to hold from buy with a price target reduced from GBX 610 to GBX 515.
  • Hsbc Holdings Plc: RBC Capital downgrades to sector perform from outperform with a price target reduced from GBX 825 to GBX 775.
  • Idexx Laboratories, Inc.: Baptista Research maintains its outperform recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 589.10 to USD 544.50.
  • Intermediate Capital Group Plc: Peel Hunt maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from GBX 2021 to GBX 2100.
  • Iqvia Holdings Inc.: Baptista Research upgrades to buy from hold with a price target raised from USD 249 to USD 258.90.
  • Jacobs Solutions Inc.: Raymond James downgrades to market perform from outperform.
  • Keysight Technologies, Inc.: Deutsche Bank maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from USD 146 to USD 150.
  • Kla Corporation: Redburn Atlantic initiates a neutral recommendation with a target price of USD 550.
  • Lam Research Corporation: Redburn Atlantic initiates a Buy recommendation with a target price of USD 800.
  • Lowe'S Companies, Inc.: Goldman Sachs maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from USD 252 to USD 238.
  • Medtronic Plc: Bernstein maintains its outperform rating and reduces the target price from USD 99 to USD 92.
  • Nvidia Corporation: Bernstein maintains its outperform rating and raises the target price from USD 675 to USD 700.
  • Pultegroup, Inc.: Wolfe Research maintains its outperform rating and raises the target price from USD 87 to USD 100.
  • Te Connectivity Ltd.: Baird maintains its outperform rating and raises the target price from USD 140 to USD 147.
  • The Clorox Company: JP Morgan upgrades to neutral from underweight with a price target raised from USD 124 to USD 145.
  • The Toronto-Dominion Bank: CIBC Capital Markets downgrades to neutral from outperform with a price target reduced from CAD 92 to CAD 86.
  • Verisk Analytics, Inc.: Baptista Research initiates a Hold recommendation with a target price of USD 253.90.
  • Zscaler, Inc.: Morgan Stanley maintains its market weight recommendation and raises the target price from USD 155 to USD 170.