Consumer spending rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, the Commerce Department said Friday. This is the smallest increase since the beginning of the year, and owes partly to the fact that consumers spent less on gasoline after a price drop. According to the Labor Department's employment-cost index, U.S. labor costs rebounded in the third quarter, but evidence of a broad acceleration remains elusive. At midday the Dow was flat, and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were down 0.1%. Stocks on the Move
Shares of LinkedIn Corp (LNKD) rose 11.6% after the social networking firm posted strong third-quarter results, above our expectations, driven by strong performance across all three segments: talent solutions; marketing solutions, and premium subscriptions. Morningstar strategist Rick Summer said that he anticipates increasing our fair value estimate slightly after revising our model, and we are reaffirming the company's wide moat rating. However, he also noted that despite the fair value increase, "we don't believe the share price provides a margin of safety at this time, and we would encourage investors to wait before allocating new money to the name." Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (VRX) slid 10.9% after the beleaguered pharmaceutical firm said that it has cut ties with Philidor, which will shut down operations as soon as possible. Shares of Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) rose 0.8% after the company posted its worst third quarter in 12 years due to low oil prices; however, it still managed to beat earnings expectations. Chevron Corp (CVX) rose 1.4% after the oil giant beat profit and sales expectations, and said it would cut spending and up to 7,000 jobs in the coming years. Foreign Markets
European markets were mixed. The FTSE 100 fell 0.8%, the Paris CAC was flat, and Germany’s DAX was up 0.3%. Asian shares were mixed. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.1%, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.8%, and the Hang Seng was down 0.8%.
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