Strong earnings reports outweighed fears of Ebola in the U.S. as markets end another bumpy week as the major U.S. markets ended the week on a high note. Skittish investors have been riding uncertainty for weeks. Next week is shaping up for more of the same.
On Sunday, the European Central Bank will release the results of its stress tests on 130 banks across Europe. Bloomberg News reported Friday morning that 25 banks will fail. Many are speculating that the banks that did not pass the test are regional banks, not major players and markets will not be affected. But Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Aaron Task is "concerned there is a little too much complacency about this." There could be a surprise in this report," he says. "We've seen people get scared about Europe and it does start to filter through to our markets."
The Federal Reserve's bond-buying stimulus program, known affectionately as quantitative easing, will likely end on Monday. But after comments from St. Louis Fed president James Bullard about the possibility of more quantitative easing calmed shaky markets last week, Task says this "might not be the last of the QEs."
On Thursday, we'll get the first read of GDP for the third quarter. GDP, of course, is the broadest measure of economic activity. GDP has been very volatile so far this year, down sharply in the first quarter, then swinging way up in the second quarter. Yahoo Finance Columnist Rick Newman says, "That's manic and that doesn't make anybody feel good." Newman hopes to see a reading around 2.8% for the 3rd quarter. "It won't move the markets," he says, but "everybody will feel pretty good about it."
Finally, Friday is Halloween. Yahoo Finance Columnist Jeff Macke says the remaining days of shopping ahead of the holiday will give a pretty good indication of how consumers are feeling. Macke says look to a Halloween pop-up store. "This is a store motivated by nothing so much as this date, October 31."
Macke also asserts, "There are no items on the planet earth as discretionary as dog Halloween costumes." The National Retail Federation says the average person will spend $77.52 this Halloween, compared to $75.03 last year, and overal spending on Halloween this year will reach $7.4 billion.
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