US stocks lacked direction on Wednesday but remained near fresh record highs hit the day before, as traders digest mixed corporate results. Earnings from Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and GM came better-than-expected while losses from Boeing were way bigger than forecasts. Also, Microsoft and Alphabet were in the green after posting a record quarterly revenue, along with Twitter after stating that Apple’s privacy updates had less of an impact on its results. Ford and eBay are due to report today after the closing bell.

New orders for US durable goods declined 0.4% mom in September of 2021, following a downwardly revised 1.3% rise in August and compared to market forecasts of a 1.1% drop. It is the first decline in five months, due to ongoing supply chain disruptions. Orders declined for nondefense capital goods (-4.2%), transportation (-2.3%) namely motor vehicles and parts (-2.9%) and nondefense aircraft and parts (-27.9%), and communications equipment (-2%). Also, excluding defense, new orders decreased 2%. On the other hand, the biggest increases were seen in orders for defense aircraft and parts (104.3%); defense capital goods (28.4%); and machinery (1.1%). Meanwhile, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.8%, above forecasts of 0.5%. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.4%.

European stocks traded below the flatline on Wednesday as investors turned more cautious after another batch of Q3 corporate earnings and as inflation woes mount. Reporting before the bell, Deutsche Bank shares fell as Q3 results showed a drop in investment banking revenues despite posting its fifth straight quarterly profit, beating market expectations with a net income of €194 million. Also, Heineken shed more than 2% as beer volumes fell 5.1% organically during Q3, significantly impacted by the pandemic outbreaks in Asia. On the data front, the GfK German consumer sentiment unexpectedly rose to a 19-month high of 0.9 in November, following an upwardly revised 0.4 in October. In the UK, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said the economy is forecasted to advance 6.5% this year, compared to prior estimates of 4%, that unemployment was expected to peak at 5.2%, and that inflation in 2022 would average 4%, more than double the Bank of England’s target.

WTI crude futures fell more than 2% to below $83 a barrel on Wednesday, after the latest EIA report showed US crude oil inventories rose by 4.267 million barrels in the week ended October 22nd, above market expectations of a 1.914 million barrels increase. However, the report also showed crude supplies at Cushing declined the most since January, with supply levels already at the lowest since 2018. The US oil benchmark has been steadily rising since the fourth week of August to reach 7-year highs at $85 due to an extraordinary recovery in demand following the reopening of major economies, coupled with global supply shortages exacerbated by energy crises.

US natural gas futures extended gains to above $6 per million British thermal units, getting closer to a 13-year high of $6.3 reached on October 5th on forecasts for colder weather and higher heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected. US gas demand, including exports, is expected to rise to 92.7 bcfd next week from 90.7 bcfd this week as more homes and businesses turn on their heaters. Still, output in the US Lower 48 states has averaged 92.3 billion cubic feet per day so far in October, up from 91.1 bcfd in September, according to Refinitiv. Meanwhile, the amount of gas flowing to US LNG export plants has averaged 10.5 bcfd so far in October, up from 10.4 bcfd in September.

Brazil’s unemployment rate shrank to 13.2 percent in the three months ending in August of 2021, from 14.6 percent in the three months to May of 2021, and below market expectations of 13.2 percent. It was the lowest rate recorded since May of 2020, as the unemployed population shrank by 1,139.0 thousand persons to 13.67 million, while the number of employed people surged by 3,480.0 thousand people to 90.18 million. Meanwhile, the labour force participation rate inched up by 1.4 percentage points to 58.6 percent and the employment rate rose 1.0 percentage points to 50.9 percent.