The trend of the three major US stock indices is diverging, as of the time of publication, $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ up 0.29%, $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ rose 0.63%, $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ down 0.2%.

Earnings reports remain the focus of the market. So far, over 27% of the S&P 500 index component companies have reported their third-quarter performance, with 76% of companies exceeding expectations.

Earlier this week, Goldman Sachs released a ten-year stock market outlook, indicating that the average annual return on the S&P 500 index in the next ten years is only 3%, with a potential range between -1% and 7%.

However, this forecast has not been endorsed by Wall Street veteran Ed Yardeni. Over the past two years, Yardeni has been claiming that the stock market will see a prosperity similar to the roaring twenties due to the continued growth in productivity.

Yardeni pointed out that given the U.S. economy's annual growth rate of 3% and inflation rate moderating to about 2%, the average annual return rate of the stock market over the next decade should be close to 11%. "It is hard to imagine the future total return rate of the S&P 500 index is only 3%. Just from the compounding of reinvestment of dividends, the return would be much higher."

If the current trend continues, Yardeni believes that the stock market prosperity reminiscent of the roaring twenties will extend into the next decade, challenging Goldman Sachs' conservative views. "If earnings and dividends maintain a steady growth pace, and profit margins rise due to technology-led productivity growth, then the likelihood of a lost decade in the U.S. stock market is small."

Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group, stated that he will not overreact to recent stock market selling pressures. He warned that after the U.S. presidential election in November, the market may experience a slight pullback, but will subsequently stabilize.

"You need to look at the situation in the past six weeks. Part of the reason for this recent stock market rally is based on a fact: earnings - starting with the big banks' earnings - have been very strong, and their stock prices have reacted very positively. Wednesday was a tough day for U.S. stocks, but these days do happen."

On Thursday's economic data front, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that with the recent impact of hurricanes and the end of the Boeing strike easing, the number of initial jobless claims last week has decreased. For the week ending October 19, the initial jobless claims in the U.S. decreased by 0.015 million from the previous week, totaling 0.227 million people, lower than the expected 0.242 million people. The data from the previous week was revised from 0.241 million people to 0.242 million people.

As of October 12, the four-week continuous applications have risen to nearly 1.9 million, reaching the highest level since November 13, 2021.

The market continues to pay attention to geopolitical developments and news related to the US presidential election. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, with less than two weeks before the US presidential election, Vice President Harris leads former Republican President Trump by a slim margin of 46% to 43%.

Focus stocks

Growth tech stocks trend differently, $Tesla (TSLA.US)$ Up over 16%, $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$Please use your Futubull account to access the feature.$Meta Platforms (META.US)$Please use your Futubull account to access the feature.$Amazon (AMZN.US)$ Expect a slight increase. $Apple (AAPL.US)$Please use your Futubull account to access the feature.$Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$ Expect a slight decrease.

Most china concept stocks are weakening, $JD.com (JD.US)$ Fell more than 2%. $Alibaba (BABA.US)$Please use your Futubull account to access the feature.$NIO Inc (NIO.US)$ dropping nearly 2%, $Li Auto (LI.US)$ Rising more than 1% against the market.

Cryptocurrency concept stocks collectively rose. $Iris Energy (IREN.US)$Rising more than 7%. $MicroStrategy (MSTR.US)$Please use your Futubull account to access the feature.$Hut 8 (HUT.US)$ Up more than 6%, $CleanSpark (CLSK.US)$Please use your Futubull account to access the feature.$Riot Platforms (RIOT.US)$ rising over 5%, $Coinbase (COIN.US)$ Rising nearly 5%.

$Tesla (TSLA.US)$ Rising over 16%, the stock price once surpassed the $250 mark, with the company's third-quarter profits exceeding market expectations.

$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ Up nearly 1%, Huang Renxun stated on Thursday that the Blackwell chip design flaw has been fixed. Huang Renxun also mentioned that the chip will support the operation of the india reliance group's datacenter.

$United Parcel Service (UPS.US)$ Rising nearly 5%, the third quarter non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were $1.76, an increase of 12.1% compared to the same period last year.

$IBM Corp (IBM.US)$ Dropping nearly 6%, the third fiscal quarter revenue for consulting and infrastructure departments fell short of expectations.

Editor/Somer