STOCK NEWS

American Express: reported Q3 EPS of $1.24 which beat expectations by 28 cents. Revenue of $7.77 billion was down 5.1% and beat estimates by $50 million. Full year GAAP EPS was guided to be $5.65-$5.75 which was above consensus for $5.60. Revenues were impacted by the Costco change. Card member, interest income and net card fees rose.

Mattel: reported Q3 EPS of 70 cents which missed estimates by a penny. Revenues were $1.8 billion which was up 0.6% and beat estimates by $30 million. Mattel Girls & Boys sales were $1.06 billion which was down 4% in constant currency. Fisher-Price sales were $662 million which was up 8% in constant currency. American Girl sales were up 15% in constant currency to $126 million.

eBay: reported Q3 EPS of $0.45 which beat estimates by a penny. Revenues were $2.22 billion which were up 5.7% and beat estimates by $30 million. Gross merchandise volume was $20.1 billion which was up 3% and missed estimates for $20.3 billion. Q4 net revenue is projected to be $2.36 billion to $2.41 billion. Consensus was for $2.4 billion. Q4 EPS is expected to be $0.52 to $0.54 versus consensus for $0.54.

Union Pacific: reported Q3 EPS of $1.36 which missed expectations by 3 cents. Revenue of $5.17 billion were down 7% and missed estimates by $10 million. Coal revenue fell 19% and industrial sales fell 13%. Railroad freight volume will fall 6% to 8% this year. Costs are up 1.5% this year and are expected to increase 2.5% next year.

ECONOMIC NEWS

The jobless claims jumped higher. It was jumping from a low point, but we will see over the next 2 or 3 weeks if this jump is part of a trend change or if it was caused by Hurricane Matthew.

I have learned from the previous presidential debates that the polls which ask who won the debate are meaningless. The only thing that matters are the polls of likely voters which ask who they are supporting. Early indications are that Trump did well in the debate because the recent polls are statistically tied. In the next few days we will get further clarification if the race tightened from Hillary being up mid-single digits to a much closer race.