12:00AM New York – U.S. stocks jumped after Coca Cola, United Technologies, and Altria report earnings. CPI rose 0.3% and housing starts fell in September

Stocks after more than two hours of trading edged higher with Dow Jones Industrial Average up 12 to 13,924, Nasdaq gaining 28 to 2,792, and S&P 500 increased 4 to 1,543.

The Labor Department reported September consumer price index rose 0.3% and core index excluding food and energy prices edged 0.2%. The so called core inflation is in line with the Fed target between 0.1% and 0.2%. However, several economists have recently said that the CPI may not reflect the total rise in housing cost and business and personal services.

The Commerce Department said that September housing starts fell 10.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.19 million homes after declining in August by a revised rate of 3.2% to an annual unit rate of 1.32 million.

Crude oil edged higher as the talks of Turkish military strike in Northern Iraq intensified. Crude oil front month contract edged 28 cents to $87.89

Coca Cola (KO: chart) reported third quarter earnings increase of 13% on revenue rise of 19%. The beverage company reported revenue of $7.69 billion and earnings of $1.65 billion in the quarter. Global volume of sparkling beverages increased 4% and flat beverages rose 14%. Domestic revenue rose 21% on acquisition and in the European Union increased 6%.

United Technologies (UTX: chart) third quarter revenue increased 14% to $13.86 billion and earnings increased 20% to $1.21 billion. Earnings per share increased to $1.21 from 99 cents a year ago.

After the market close Intel reported earnings rise of 43% from a year ago, Yahoo earnings fell but reported 12% increase in earnings and beat the expectations of 8 cents per share, and IBM reported earnings rise of 6.3%.


10:00AM New York – J P Morgan reported third quarter profit of $3.4 billion and credit losses provision of $2.4 billion.

J P Morgan (JPM: chart), banking and financial services group, reported third quarter earnings rise of 4% to $16.11 billion from a year ago. Net income increased 2% to $3.3 billion in the period and earnings per share increased 5% to 97 from 92 cents.

The company also issued 38 cents per share dividend and book value per share increased to $35.72 from $32.75 a year ago.

Net managed revenue was $17.0 billion, up by $603 million, or 4%, from the prior year. Noninterest revenue of $8.1 billion was down by $1.5 billion, or 15%, reflecting markdowns on leveraged lending funded and unfunded commitments and lower fixed income trading results. These decreases were offset partially by increased asset management, administration, and commissions revenue, which benefited from a higher level of assets under management and by strong private equity gains.

Net interest income was $8.8 billion, up by $2.1 billion, or 31%, due to trading net interest income; growth in liability and deposit balances, primarily in the wholesale businesses; a higher level of credit card loans and fees; and the impact of the Bank of New York transaction. These increases were offset partially by a narrower net interest spread in the Corporate segment and a shift to narrower–spread deposit products.

The managed provision for credit losses was $2.4 billion, up by $944 million, or 67%, from the prior year. The wholesale provision for credit losses was $351 million, compared with $35 million, reflecting an increase in the allowance for credit losses, primarily related to portfolio growth. Wholesale net charge-offs were $82 million, compared with net recoveries of $11 million, resulting in net charge-off rates of 0.18% and (0.03)%, respectively.

The total consumer managed provision for credit losses was $2.0 billion, compared with $1.4 billion in the prior year, reflecting an increase in the allowance for credit losses, largely related to home equity loans, and higher net charge-offs. Consumer managed net charge-offs were $1.7 billion, compared with $1.4 billion, resulting in managed net charge-off rates of 1.96% and 1.69%, respectively. The firm had total nonperforming assets of $3.2 billion at September 30, 2007, up by $881 million, or 38%, from the prior-year level of $2.3 billion.


Revenues in the investment banking fell 39% to $2.95 billion from a year ago and 49% from $5.8 billion a year ago. Net income in the division was reported at $296 million, 70% lower from a year ago.


Investment banking fees were $1.3 billion, down by 6% from the prior year, reflecting lower debt underwriting fees offset partially by record advisory fees. Debt underwriting fees were $468 million, down 34%, reflecting lower bond underwriting and loan syndication fees, which were negatively affected by market conditions. Advisory fees were $595 million, up 36%, driven by a strong performance across all regions. Equity underwriting fees were $267 million, down 3%, driven by lower revenue in Europe and Asia, partially offset by strong performance in the Americas in common stock and convertible offerings.