CNBC Business News Update - Markets Midday: Stocks Add To Week's Gains, Activist Investor Wants Fries With That, Netflix Flows Upstream

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

The latest in business, financial, and market news and how it affects your money - reported by CNBC's Peter Schacknow

I'm Peter Schachnow, CNBC. A mostly higher trading session has put Wall Street's major averages on pace for a sixth consecutive positive week. The Dow is down 51 points at 43,188, but the S&P 500 is a quarter percent higher, or 14 points, and the Nasdaq jumping 92 points, or a half percent. A largely upbeat start to corporate earnings season has helped move the markets forward, and Max Kettner, chief multi-asset strategist at HSBC, says that should continue to provide a similar boost in the weeks ahead. ConsenSys expects earnings to contract quarter on quarter in the third quarter, you know, in a quarter where, for example, the Atlanta Fed's GDP now is saying that real growth has probably been three and a half.

So we're talking sort of nominal GDP growth around 6%. And yet, consenders' expectations are for a decline in earnings expectations. So in other words, put it simply, earnings expectations are way, way, way too low, way too pessimistic. Among stocks on the move, French fry maker Lamb Weston is up almost 10%. Activist investor Jana Partners has taken a roughly 5 percent stake and is said to be pushing for operational changes, as well as urging the company to explore a possible sale. Supermarket operator Albertsons is up 2.6 percent after Wells Fargo raised its rating on the stock to overweight. Wells Fargo says it sees a compelling

opportunity in a beaten down stock. Crude oil prices are down more than 2% today, on track for an 8% weekly decline, the biggest since the beginning of September. Analysts point to potentially weaker demand in China as a key reason. Peter Schach now, CNBC. The Investing Club. We're not about trading. We're about investing. Get invested. Join the club today. Go to cndc.com slash Jim's Club.