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New all-time closing highs came to the Dow, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq once again today. The Dow grew by an impressive +308 points, or +0.69% on the session, the S&P 500 was +36 points, +0.61%, while the Nasdaq gained a whopping +254 points on the day, +1.30%. The small-cap Russell 2000 hiked up +11 points, +0.46%.
 

Services, Factory Orders and Beige Book

We had a busy morning with economic data today — not only with the lower-than-expected private-sector payroll data from ADP (ADP - Free Report) ahead of the open, but monthly Services PMI and Factory Orders, as well. We even saw a new Beige Book this afternoon. Let’s take these one at a time, shall we?

S&P Services PMI came in below expectations for November: 56.1 versus 57.0 expected, which was in-line with the previous month. ISM Services, also for last month, reached 52.1%, well off the expected pace of 55.6% and the prior month’s 56.0%. These are obviously trending in the wrong direction, but at least they remain above the 50-threshold — something that cannot be said for the S&P and ISM Manufacturing data released earlier this week.

Factory Orders for October also were released this morning, in-line with expectations at +0.2%. This is a nice bounce-back from the upwardly revised -0.2% reported the month earlier. These numbers tend to swing around month over month: this is the first positive figure reported since the +4.9% back in July of this year.

The final of eight Beige Book reports for 2024 came out this afternoon, with better-than-expected results over all. A total of 11 of 12 districts reported growth — almost all modest or slight — with labor markets in the regions mostly flat-to-up. Only Boston reported slight overall contraction. Wage growth softened to a “modest pace” across most districts, while passing costs onto consumers became more difficult during the period.

Earnings Reports After the Close: SNPS, FIVE, AEO

Just when you thought earnings season was completely over, we get three new relatively significant companies reporting after today’s closing bell:

Electronic design automation software maker Synopsys (SNPS - Free Report) reported earnings of $3.40 per share today, beating estimates of $3.29 and the year-ago print of $3.17 per share, +13% year over year. Revenues of $1.636 billion reached a record high quarter for the company, and were slightly above the $1.63 billion in the Zacks consensus. Full-year revenues also reached a record high, though shares are trading down -6% in the after-hours session.

Discount retailer Five Below (FIVE - Free Report) blew away expectations with its Q3 earnings report this afternoon, posting earnings of 42 cents per share — way above the 16 cents analysts had been expecting. Revenues of $843.7 million were also well ahead of the estimated $800.6 million, and the company opened 82 new stores during the quarter. Shares are trading up over +10% in the late session today, after having shed -50% year-to-date.

American Eagle (AEO - Free Report) had a mixed Q3, as reported after the bell, beating on the bottom line by 2 cents with earnings of 48 cents per share while missing slightly on the top line, with revenues of $1.29 billion a smidge below the $1.30 billion expected. Comps were up +5% year over year, but this wasn’t enough to stop the apparel retailer of falling -12% in late trading today — deepening the -3% hole the stock had been in year to date. 

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