Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
As of 1:05 p.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.56%) is up 15 points, or 0.09%. The blue-chip index is again on the verge of setting a new all-time high after posting record highs on two different occasions last week. The S&P 500 has climbed a meager 0.05% today while the NASDAQ is up 0.09%. Earnings season is coming to an end, and investors have little economic data to chew on today, so the low volatility shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
In anticipation of the upcoming earnings release, shares of Wal-Mart (WMT 0.46%) are trading higher by 1.2% today. The company is expected to report earnings on Nov. 14, and analysts are expecting revenue of $116.75 billion and earnings of $1.13 per share. For the same quarter last year, Wal-Mart reported sales of $113.93 billion and EPS of $1.08. While the current predictions are substantially higher than actual results were last year, the EPS estimate has come down from $1.17. Today's move higher may be a little premature, as the company has yet to report anything, and estimates are a little high, making a massive earnings beat unlikely. Thus investors thinking about jumping in before the report should reconsider and wait until results are reported and there's less hype surrounding the stock.
On the other side of the coin, shares of Coca-Cola (KO 2.14%) are down 0.6% this afternoon following an announcement that Pepsi (PEP 1.08%), the world's second-largest soft-drink producer behind Coke, has made a commitment to invest $5.2 billion in India by 2020. The money will help increase manufacturing production, promote new product launches, and develop a presence in India's more rural areas. This move from Pepsi comes just days after Coke reported that it would invest more than $4 billion to build new plants in China between 2015 and 2017. The competition between these two companies never seems to die down, but that doesn't mean either one is a bad long-term investment.
