Last night's vice-presidential debate stirred up strong emotions on both sides of the aisle, with the two candidates sparring on a number of key issues. But it's evident that despite the lack of consensus on the appropriate course for the country to take both economically and politically, markets this morning are responding favorably. In particular, consumer sentiment figures hit another five-year high, as people are generally more optimistic both about their current situations and about what the future is likely to bring. By 10:45 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrials (^DJI 0.56%) were up 37 points in an attempt to break a four-day losing streak for the average.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 0.69%) managed a small rebound from its recent losses, rising about 1.5%. Yet as Fool contributor Evan Niu noted yesterday, HP recently lost its top status in PC production to Lenovo, further emphasizing the need for HP to move forward strongly with a strategy that isn't so dependent on its historical presence in the PC industry.
Boeing (BA -0.24%) also rose more than 1% a day after Alaska Air (ALK 1.28%) made a deal to buy 50 of its 737 MAX and 737-900ER aircraft. Combined with a $2 billion order earlier in the week from the U.S. military for C-17 cargo plane maintenance, Boeing is demonstrating its ability to stay strong despite pressures on defense budgets that could threaten that side of its business in the long run.
Finally, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 2.51%) fell about a quarter-percent despite its quarterly earnings report showing big improvements in its mortgage business. Mortgage-lending revenue rose 36% in the third quarter, and the bank's fixed-income trading unit also benefited from the Fed's systematic purchasing of bonds. Despite lingering concerns about bank balance sheets and JPMorgan's lawsuit from the New York Attorney General, it appears that JPMorgan is turning the corner for good.
