US benchmark equity indexes ended mixed Tuesday as traders weighed the latest batch of corporate earnings and awaited results from Alphabet (GOOGL). Job openings in the US dropped to 7.44 million in September, down from 7.86 million the previous month, as stated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This figure fell short of the anticipated 8 million in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Consumer confidence also saw an uptick, rising to 108.7 this month from 99.2 in September, according to the Conference Board.
This figure exceeded the consensus of 99.5 recorded in a Bloomberg poll. "Consumer confidence recorded the strongest monthly gain since March 2021, but still did not break free of the narrow range that has prevailed over the past two years," remarked Conference Board Chief Economist Dana Peterson. In the commodity market, December West Texas Intermediate crude oil settled down by $0.12, pricing at $67.26 per barrel.
Meanwhile, December Brent crude, the global benchmark, saw a decline of $0.24 to $71.18, as the World Bank projected a supply glut that may start to suppress prices next year. In corporate news, shares of Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) increased nearly 13%. Late Monday, the company raised its full-year outlook, adjusting the lower end of the range for both earnings and revenue following a better-than-expected Q3 performance. Conversely, PayPal (PYPL) experienced a decline of 4%, despite their Q3 revenue growing less than anticipated.
However, the growth in earnings surpassed analysts’ expectations, prompting the company to revise its full-year bottom-line forecasts..