US stock futures traded broadly higher on Thursday, boosted by a raft of positive corporate results which helped investors shrug off signs of declining global growth ahead of the busiest day of the third-quarter earnings season.

While not a uniformly positive picture, recent earnings releases have helped to ease investor fears over the outlook for world growth; with around 80% of S&P 500’s companies having topped the street’s expectations, thus far.

These developments come after Wednesday’s session, where US stocks finished higher, overcoming a sluggish start to the day, as investors processed outlook warnings from a number of forerunning US corporations.

The S&P 500 closed +0.29% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite added +0.19% to its value.

Ahead, in today’s economic calendar, Thursday includes; Weekly Jobless Claims and Durable Goods Orders for September at 8:30am EST, PMI Composite FLASH data for October at 9:45am EST, followed by New Home Sales for September at 10am EST.

In earnings; Amazon.com (AMZN - Get Report), 3M (MMM), Intel (INTC), Visa (V), Comcast (CMCSA), Raytheon (RTN), American Airlines (AAL), Southwest Airlines (LUV), T-Mobile (TMUS), Twitter (TWTR), Northrop Grumman (NOC) and Dow (DOW) are all scheduled to report today.

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
Economy: ECB Keeps Rates Unchanged as Draghi Waves Farewell to Frankfurt. (CNBC)
The European Central Bank kept rates unchanged on Thursday, in what marks Mario Draghi’s last monetary policy meeting at the bank.

China & Trade: China Willing to Buy $20 Billion of US Farm Goods in Year One. (Bloomberg)
China aims to buy at least $20 billion of agricultural products in a year if it signs a partial trade deal with the US, and would consider boosting purchases further in future rounds of talks, people familiar with the matter said.

ECONOMIC CALENDAR
Today's Economical Announcements.

08:30AM - ★☆☆ - Weekly Jobless Claims (Previous: 214,000)
08:30AM - ★★★ - C. Durable Goods (Sep) (Previous: 0.5%)
09:45AM - ★★☆ - Manufacturing PMI (Oct) (Previous: 51.1)
09:45AM - ★★☆ - Services PMI (Oct) (Previous: 50.9)
10:00AM - ★★★ - New Home Sales (Sep) (Previous: 713,000)

STOCKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Pre-Market Movers & News Related Stocks.

Tesla (TSLA): [EARNINGS] Reported an adjusted profit of $1.86 per share, surprising analysts who had been predicting a loss of 42 cents per share. Revenue was slightly short of estimates, but the automaker’s bottom line was helped by cost cuts and record deliveries.

Twitter (TWTR): [EARNINGS] Fell 3 cents a share shy of consensus, with adjusted quarterly profit of 17 cents per share. Revenue also missed estimates. Twitter reported 145 million daily active users during the quarter, better than Wall Street had anticipated, but it also gave weaker-than-expected current-quarter revenue guidance.

PayPal (PYPL): [EARNINGS] Beat Street forecasts by 9 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 61 cents per share. The payment service’s revenue was also above estimates. Payment volume came in above forecasts, and PayPal raised its full-year outlook.

EBay (EBAY): [EARNINGS] Reported adjusted quarterly earnings of 67 cents per share, 3 cents a share above estimates. Revenue came in slightly above forecasts. The e-commerce company forecast current-quarter revenue that is below Street estimates, however, amid increasing online competition.

Align Technology (ALGN): [EARNINGS] Beat estimates by 14 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.28 per share. The maker of Invisalign dental braces also reported revenue that was above estimates. Align issued better-than-expected revenue guidance for the current quarter.

Spirit Airlines (SAVE): [EARNINGS] Reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.32 per share, 9 cents a share above estimates. The airline’s revenue also came in above Street forecasts. The beat came despite a negative impact from Hurricane Dorian during the quarter. Spirit also gave an upbeat current-quarter outlook.

Ford Motor (F): [EARNINGS] Came in 8 cents a share ahead of estimates, with adjusted quarterly profit of 34 cents per share. The automaker’s revenue was slightly below forecasts, and Ford reduced its full-year profit forecast on lower-than-expected China sales as well as higher warranty and incentive expenses.

Dow Inc. (DOW): [EARNINGS] Beat estimates by 18 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 91 cents per share. Revenue also topped forecasts, though sales were down 15% from a year earlier on lower prices.

Comcast (CMCSA): [EARNINGS] Reported adjusted profit of 79 cents per share, 4 cents a share better than analysts’ forecasts. Revenue also beat expectations, helped by robust additions of high-speed internet customers.

General Motors (GM): [NEWS] Workers at GM’s Flint, Michigan plant voted to approve the tentative labor agreement announced last week. The positive vote at GM’s second-largest plant could be an indication that a strike could soon end, with workers across the nation currently in the process of voting on the agreement.

3M (MMM): [EARNINGS] Earned an adjusted $2.58 per share for the third quarter, 9 cents a share above estimates. Revenue fell short of expectations, however, and 3M cut its full-year profit forecast as its results are hit by slowing demand in China and other markets.

Southwest Airlines (LUV): [EARNINGS] Earned $1.23 per share for the third quarter, 15 cents a share above estimates. Revenue was in line with forecasts. Strong demand and higher fares helped offset the negative impact of the 737 Max grounding.

Microsoft (MSFT): [EARNINGS] Reported earnings of $1.38 per share, 13 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also beat Wall Street forecasts; however, the company’s Azure cloud services grew more slowly during the quarter.

American Airlines (AAL): [EARNINGS] Came in 2 cents A share above estimates, with quarterly profit of $1.42 per share. Revenue came in essentially in line with forecasts. American put the cost of the 737 Max grounding at $140 million for the quarter, bringing the total to $540 million.

Stanley Black & Decker (SWK): [EARNINGS] Reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $2.13 per share, 10 cents a share above estimates. Revenue was slightly below forecasts, however, and the company cut its full-year earnings forecast as it implements a cost-cutting program designed to save $200 million per year.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): [EARNINGS] Cut its previously reported third-quarter profit by $3 billion, to account for the proposed opioid settlement announced earlier this week. However, its adjusted earnings numbers reported earlier remain the same.

Las Vegas Sands (LVS): [EARNINGS] Matched Street forecasts, with adjusted quarterly earnings of 75 cents per share. The casino operator’s revenue was on the light side of projections, however, pressured by the impact from the U.S.-China trade dispute, which is affecting its Macau operations.

MOMENTUM STOCKS
GAINERS: WGO, IVZ
DECLINERS: VCYT, SIX, CMG, ADI

TODAY'S IPOs
BRP Group (BRP) (Price: 14) (Est. Vol: $246.2296M)
TFF Pharmaceuticals (TFFP) (Price: 5) (Est. Vol: $22.0M)

WE WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY!