Sharjah24 - AFP: On Thursday, the majority of US and European equities increased as a result of positive earnings reports, including those from Tesla.
Tesla shares surged over 17 percent after the company led by Elon Musk reported third-quarter profits of $2.2 billion, up 17 percent from the year-ago period on an eight-percent increase in revenues to $25.2 billion.
The results broke a string of recent Tesla earnings that have seen the once high-flying company report lower profits year-over-year as competition intensifies among automakers.
The outspoken Musk offered a bullish outlook on Tesla's prospects, pointing to the strong results as evidence the company's ambitious vision is being realised.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbed, while the Dow dipped.
"For now, the excitement over Tesla's report and outlook seems to be doing most of the driving," said market analyst Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.
IBM sank over six percent as it reported a $330 million quarterly loss on lower-than-expected revenues.
Boeing shares lost over three percent after a machinist union voted against the latest contract offer, extending a nearly six-week strike, but pared losses during morning trading.
European indices rose, with investors anticipating interest rate cuts, while oil prices climbed then fell as the crude market continued to experience volatile trading.
With the US presidential election still seen as a coin toss less than two weeks out, there was plenty of uncertainty on trading floors, though observers said dealers were eyeing a win for Donald Trump and policies such as tax cuts that could stoke inflation again.
That, along with a strong run of US economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve officials backing a cautious approach to easing monetary policy, has seen expectations for rate cuts whittled back.
Traders had previously been confident that the central bank would follow up last month's bumper 50-basis-point cut with another at its November meeting and a smaller one in December.
But those expectations have diminished, as seen with Treasury yields rising in recent weeks.
The situation would appear different in Europe, where analysts are betting on the possibility of bumper rate cuts in the eurozone and Britain.
This after Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said UK inflation was falling quicker than it had expected, and as eurozone economic data continues to weaken.
Business activity in the single currency bloc ticked lower for the second consecutive month in October, a closely watched survey showed Thursday.
The HCOB Flash Eurozone purchasing managers' index published by S&P Global registered a figure of 49.7 compared to 49.6 in September.
Any reading above 50 indicates growth, while a figure below 50 shows contraction.
The latest PMI data for Britain on Thursday showed its "economy struggled" at the start of the fourth quarter, said Kathleen Brooks, research director at traders XTB.
- Key figures around 1530 GMT -
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 42,313.36 points
New York - S&P: UP 0.8 percent at 5,802.32
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 18,378.31
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,269.38 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,503.28 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.3 at 19,443.00 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.1 percent at 38,143.29 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 20,489.62 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 3,280.26 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0798 from $1.0787 on Wednesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2956 from $1.2929
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 151.95 yen from 152.65 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.34 pence from 83.41 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.6 percent at $74.53 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.7 percent at $70.26 per barrel
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