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Even mildly pessimistic guidance has investors spooked amid macro headwinds Earnings for S&P 500 companies grew by 25.8% in the third quarter, the strongest performance since the third quarter of 2010, when companies benefited from very attractive, recession-era comparable earnings. Nevertheless, from the start of earnings season to the close of trade Friday, the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.22% has fallen 2.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.49% 1.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.15% 5.5%. “Third quarter earnings were outstanding both on earnings and revenue growth, the percentage of companies beating expectations, and the magnitude of those beats,” Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors. But the selloff that accompanied these announcements is a testament to the fact that “Wall Street doesn’t care what you’ve done in the past. It’s all about what you’re going to do next quarter,” Arone said. The pairing of r...

BITCOIN experienced a sudden drop in value on Wednesday after a prolonged period of record stability, which many experts said would produce a sharp move in either an upwards or downwards direction. The world’s leading cryptocurrency plummeted to its lowest value in more than a year. The drop came as key volatility indicators hit record low levels. The low volatility was widely touted by crypto experts and analysts as an indication of an imminent price swing. eToro managing director Iqbal V. Gandham told Express.co.uk BTC’s low volatility was “forming a wedge” which meant “sharp move either up or down” was “imminent”. The Crypto UK chair, who advised Treasury Select Committee chair Nicky Morgan on her Digital Currencies Inquiry said: “Bitcoin price is forming a wedge, which indicates a sharp move either up or down.” Mr Gandham’s predictions came to fruition on Wednesday when more than 10 per cent of BTC’s value was wiped out over the course of few hours. As a knock-on effect, t...

Russia is rapidly developing a new reusable nuclear rocket to compete with Musk and SpaceX and It Keldysh Research Centre has now been working on its reusable rocket solution for nearly a decade now, and now it’s ramping up the hype with a new concept video showing how its spacecraft works. Vladimir Koshlakov explained that Elon Musk and SpaceX pose no real threat to the group’s plans because Musk is relying on old technology that will soon be antiquated, while Russia is looking forward to changing the future of spaceflight. Koshlakov, say that their nuclear-powered system will be able to make it to Mars in under seven months and that its reusable rocket stages can be put back into space within 48 hours. “Reusability is the priority, we must develop engines that do not need to be fine-tuned or repaired more than once every ten flights. Also, 48 hours after the rocket returns from space, it must be ready to go again. This is what the market demands.” Since SpaceX is currentl...

With recent events in Paradise with the inferno ravaging the wooded town of Paradise where officials discovered the remains of 13 people, bringing the death toll to 42, the World is asking why does California have so many forest fires? The first is California’s climate. Fire is a very simple thing as long as the forest material is dry enough and there’s a spark then it will burn. California, like much of the West, gets most of its moisture in autumn and winter. Its vegetation then spends much of the summer slowly drying out because of a lack of moisture and warmer temperatures. That vegetation then serves as kindling for fires. California’s Climate has always been fire prone, it has become warmer with temperatures that are about two to three degrees Fahrenheit warmer than they would have been without global warming.  Once the vegetation has dried out it makes it more likely to burn. 2) People Dr Williams a bioclimatologist at Columbia University’s Lamo...

FRANKFURT Volkswagen plans to sell electric cars for less than 20,000 euros which would be $22,836 and protect German jobs by converting more than three factories to make rivals to Tesla's models. Tesla's currently in the early stages of ramping up the production of the Model 3, and despite the heavily advertised $35,000 price tag, that car can easily wind up costing closer to around $40,000 or $50,000, depending on options.  Plans for Volkswagen electric car, known as the MEB and with a volume of 200,000 vehicles, are due to be discussed at a board meeting on Nov. 16 in Germany. The Wolfs burg Car Manufacture declined to comment on the plans, is also expected to discuss alliances with the battery cell manufacturer SK Innovation and one of their biggest rivals Ford. Volkswagen strategy comes as cities start to ban diesel engine vehicles, which will come fully into place by 2022, forcing other car-makers to think of new ways to s...

As the Chinese President tries to reassure the private sector that they have nothing to fear from the state as he offers them tax breaks, troubling figures have been released showing that nearly a fifth of all homes in China lay empty. The equates to tens of millions of homes with nobody living in them and even more worryingly no income being produced by the properties. In soon to be published figures as much as 22 per cent of homes is currently not in use, according to Professor Gan Li, who runs the main nationwide study. That adds up to more than 50 million empty homes, he said. This has many experts fearing that homeowners will panic sell if the property market starts showing signs of weakness. Property speculation is seen as a major risk to Chineses social and financial stability. “There’s no other single country with such a high vacancy rate,” said Gan, of Chengdu’s Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. “Should any crack emerge in the property market, the...

Americans went to the polls Tuesday when the two states voted on legalizing recreational marijuana and another two more deciding the fate of medicinal marijuana. Weed stocks are going through the roof at the moment. So far in the United States of America, 10 states allow recreational use of marijuana and 32 states allow the use of medical marijuana. But government bodies can not use the drug. At the start of October this year, Canada became the second country after Uruguay to legalize the recreational use of marijuana which has also seen the stock rise heavily. Weed stocks were surging Monday and Tuesday as Americans in four  Different states will determine the fate of marijuana use at a state level. Voters in North Dakota and Michigan and are considering the full recreational use of marijuana for people over the age of 21, which is the age people can drink Alcohol in the United States of America. In the meantime, Utah is voting for the medical use of Marijuana. He...

Looking at some individual stocks, Vopak rose 5 %after reporting higher results, which wasn't expected. Siemens healthcare also jumped 2.7 % on its current earnings release. European banks were under scrutiny after the latest results of stress tests. Barclays bank and Lloyd's Bank had the lowest capital ratios in the scenario. According to KPMG, this was due to Newly set accounting rules and high levels of unsecured debts Both stocks were pretty much flat. The European Stoxx 600 was flat as well with the various sectors taking different directions. Financial services and industrial Services were down by about 0.6 %, whereas telecommunications had risen by almost 1 %. Italian banks were under pressure in early deals this morning. Though they eased past them. Analysts believe the macro assumptions for Italy were a little too optimistic. Banco BPM and Intesa Sanpaolo dropped about 2 %. Ubi Banca fell 1.4 %. Meanwhile, eurozone finance ministers are gathering in Brussels fo...