Morning Journal--Last chance for Japan

 News on Stocks in Our Portfolios

MasterCard beats by $0.11, beats on revenue

·                     MasterCard (NYSE:MA): Q3 EPS of $0.89 beats by $0.11.

·                     Revenue of $2.5B (+12.6% Y/Y) beats by $50M.

Altria beats by $0.01, beats on revenue

·         Altria (NYSE:MO): Q3 EPS of $0.69 beats by $0.01.

·         Revenue of $4.75B (-0.2% Y/Y) beats by $20M.

ConocoPhillips beats by $0.09

·         ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP): Q3 EPS of $1.29 beats by $0.09.

Economics

   This Week’s Data

            Weekly mortgage applications fell 6.6% while purchase applications were down 5.0%.

            http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2014/10/mba-mortgage-applications-decrease-in.html

                Weekly jobless claims rose 3,000 versus expectations of a 3,000 decline.

            http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/Weekly-Unemployment-Claims.php

            The initial third quarter GDP report showed a 3.5% advance down from the second quarter number of 4.6% but better than estimates of 3.0%; the GDP deflator was +1.3% versus forecasts of +1.4%.

                http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2014/10/bea-real-gdp-increased-at-35-annualized.html

   Other

            Last chance for Japan (medium):

            http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-us-rebalancing-benefits-japan-by-stephen-s--roach-2014-10#F3zyf3wer4C5OFU4.99

Politics

  Domestic

Another scandal buried by the press (medium):

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/10/more-on-the-obama-administration-scandal-that-the-washington-press-corps-tried-to-bury.php

More on press bias (medium):

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-29/20-year-cbs-news-veteran-details-massive-censorship-and-propaganda-mainstream-media