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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...

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...