Oil declines despite the weaker dollar as Chinese cities widen Covid rules, and a mixture in the earnings department.

Looking at the Tuesday trading session, the US midterms get underway as voting began. As a result, the US indexes gave up some of their gains but remain supported by the theory that stocks will be boosted if Republicans win the race for control of Congress.

The Dow Jones was up 0.7%, the Nasdaq gained 0.13% and the S&P 500 rose 0.3%.

Goldman Sachs commented that with Republicans set to take back control of the House, many are guessing a divided Congress as the likely outcome “regardless of the Senate outcome”. However, a surprise win for Democrats in both chambers could weigh on equities as market contestants may experience further additional corporate tax increases.

Treasury yields continue to fall back with the 10-year yield floating around 4 as fresh inflation data is incoming later in the week. The data will probably resume the focus on Fed’s plan on rates.

In the commodity world, oil prices fell 3% despite a weaker dollar as Chinese cities expanded their Covid restrictions and as investors on crude futures try to limit exposure ahead of US inventory data due Wednesday.

New York’s WTI traded down 3.14% at $88.91 per barrel, extending the previous session’s near 1% slide. The London Brent traded down 2.6% at $95.36.

In corporate news, Bentley reported earnings that matched market forecasts but revenue fell short of expectations. Earnings per share came in at $0.19 on revenue of $268 million versus the estimate of $272 million.

Occidental Petroleum beat revenue but earnings came in lower than expected. it reported Q3 EPS $0.24 lower than estimates but revenue came in at $9.5 billion against the expectation of $9.44 billion.

Walt Disney reported earnings per share of $0.30, the estimate was $0.59. Revenue for the quarter totalled $20.15 billion against the expectation of $21.38 billion.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)