Those losses helped offset a 4.5 per cent ascent for Delta Air Lines, which reported a stronger profit for the Northern hemisphere summer than analysts expected. Delta also gave a forecast for profit over the full year that topped analysts’ estimates. Its president, Glen Hauenstein, highlighted a broad-based acceleration in sales trends over the last six weeks, including for business travel.
Such reports from companies are taking on more significance, offering windows into the strength of the economy. That’s because the US government’s shutdown is delaying reports that would clearly show how the overall economy is doing. This is the second week where the government has not published its update on unemployment claims, for example, a report that usually guides Wall Street’s trading each Thursday.
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PepsiCo rose 3.1 per cent after it delivered a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, saying momentum improved for its drinks business in North America. Delivering bigger profits is one of two ways that companies can make their stock prices look less expensive following their big rallies. The other is if their stock prices fall.
Akero Therapeutics leaped 16.5 per cent after Novo Nordisk, the Danish maker of weight-loss drug Wegovy, said it would buy the South San Francisco-based drug developer. The price tag could reach $US5.2 billion ($7.9 billion) if Akero’s lead product candidate wins federal regulatory approval.
In other international markets, indexes were mixed in Europe after Italy’s Ferrari tumbled 15.4 per cent after making profit forecasts that were below analyst expectations. .
Stocks in Shanghai leaped 1.3 per cent after trading resumed there following a holiday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.8 per cent for another one of the world’s bigger moves. Technology giant SoftBank Group surged 11.4 per cent after it announced a $US5.4 billion deal to acquire the robotics unit of Swiss engineering firm ABB.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.14 per cent from 4.13 per cent late on Wednesday.
AP, with staff writers
