Stock markets often see volatile moves during holiday weeks, as fewer professionals on Wall Street are present to participate in trading. That said, light trading volume can sometimes leave stock markets in a holding pattern, and that seemed to be the case on Wednesday morning. Major market benchmarks opened with only modest changes from Tuesday's close, with some rising and others falling slightly.

Yet the individual companies that continue to report earnings are offering very different views of the current state of the economy. Shares of farm equipment specialist Deere (NYSE: DE) moved higher following the company's most recent release of financial results, but high-end department store retailer Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) wasn't able to show the same level of optimism about macroeconomic conditions. It's all one big economy, but what Deere and Nordstrom said revealed two different sides of it.

Shares of Deere rose 3% early Wednesday morning. The farm equipment stock is within 10% of an all-time high, and its fiscal fourth-quarter financial numbers for the period ending Oct. 30 showed continued strength in its underlying business.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com