Stock market news for October 16, 2024

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to a record close on Wednesday, bouncing back from a sell-off in the previous session.

The blue-chip index gained 337.28 points, or 0.79%, and ended at 43,077.70. The S&P 500 added 0.47% to 5,842.47, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.28% to close at 18,367.08.

Morgan Stanley rose 6.5% after topping Wall Street estimates for both its third-quarter earnings and revenue. United Airlines also reported better-than-expected results and forecast strong numbers for the fourth quarter, sending shares 12.4% higher.

The reporting period is off to a solid start. About 50 S&P 500 stocks have posted third-quarter earnings thus far, with 79% of those beating expectations, FactSet data shows.

The Dow and S&P 500 both slipped from their recent records on Tuesday, falling more than 0.7% each. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1%.

Despite this increased market volatility, CFRA Research chief investment strategist Sam Stovall still thinks equities could rise in the short term, especially when considering September’s rally to new heights.

“Usually Septembers of election years are negative. However, if they’re positive, then that also implies a positive October, as compared with the more normal negative October,” he told CNBC. “In the final two months of election years, the market has risen almost every time with all sizes, styles and sectors posting positive returns. So investors are very much aware that the momentum is behind the market.”

Still, Stovall did not take the possibility of a pullback off the table, since equities look so stretched at their current valuations. But the investor said any sell-off would most likely happen after the election and probably not until the new year.

“We might end up being vulnerable to some exogenous event that could cause a shakeout in equity prices,” he added.