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Markets lost their early rally.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 13,103, +26.3, +0.2 percent

S&P 500: 1,412, +4.2, +0.3 percent

NASDAQ: 2,986, +4.4, +0.1 percent

And now the top stories:
  • Economists paid particularly close attention to today's durable goods orders report.  In September, the headline number jumped 9.9 percent, which was well ahead of the 7.5 percent gain expected by economists.  This was largely driven by a big spike in aircraft orders.  But even excluding transportation, orders grew 2.0 percent versus expectations for a 0.9 percent gain. 

  • If there was one disappointing component of the durable goods report, it was core capex orders (i.e. nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft), which was flat versus the expectation for 0.2 percent growth.  Core capex orders is David Rosenberg's favorite recession indicator. So the miss is not welcome news. 

  • Today's initial jobless claims order was nothing to get too excited about.  Claims fell to 369k, which was marginally better than the 370k economists were expecting.  However, last week's claims were revised up to 392k from 388k.

  • Pending homes sales also missed expectations, climbing just 0.3 percent.  This was far short of the expectation for a 2.5 percent increase. 

  • Rounding out the set of disappointing economic data was the Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index, which plunged to -4.  This was a 3-year low.  Economists were expecting a reading of +5.

  • Late in the trading session, Bloomberg reported that Apple was developing an Internet radio service.  The real loser in this announcement was internet radio company Pandora, which completely collapsed.

  • Tech giants Apple and Amazon.com will be announcing their Q3 earnings after the closing bell.