Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq eye fresh records Nvidia provides lift ahead of earnings, Fed tests

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US stocks perked up on Tuesday, eyeing fresh record highs as investors fielded the latest rush of earnings and looked to the Federal Reserve meeting to confirm interest rate cuts are on the way.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) moved up around 0.7%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) ticked 0.3% higher after the benchmark ended above 6,800 for the first time. Stocks closed at all-time peaks on Monday amid rising hopes for a US-China trade deal.

Nvidia (NVDA) provided markets with a lift on Tuesday as CEO Jensen Huang gave the keynote address at its GTC event. Shares rose to an intraday all-time high, up over 3% as Huang said the AI industry has “turned a corner” while announcing new partnerships.

Big Tech’s eye-popping run faces a key test starting Wednesday, when “Magnificent Seven” megacap tech companies, including Alphabet (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Meta (META), Amazon (AMZN), and Microsoft (MSFT), report earnings this quarter. Particular focus is on Amazon (AMZN) earnings after the tech giant said it plans to cut about 14,000 jobs, while Apple set the stage for its results by crossing $4 trillion in market value.

Earnings season is roaring on, with reports from Visa (V), UnitedHealth (UNH), UPS (UPS), and PayPal (PYPL) among the highlights Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Fed kicked off its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday with traders pricing in a second consecutive interest rate cut in its decision on Wednesday. The watch is on for clues from Chair Jerome Powell as to the odds of another rate cut in December, as Wall Street grapples with a data blackout caused by the US government shutdown.

Elsewhere, on the trade front, Trump lavished praise on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as the US signed deals on rare earths and trade with Japan on Tuesday. Along with a flurry of other pacts, the move prepares the ground for a key meeting between Trump and China’s President Xi on Thursday.

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S&P 500 touches 6,900 for first time ever as benchmark aims for third consecutive record close

Stocks were on pace for a third consecutive record close on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 hitting an intraday high north of 6,900 for the first time ever.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.4%, while the Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.7%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) moved up around 0.79% as chipmaker heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA) hit intraday record highs.
Nvidia stock hits all-time high after key announcements with Uber, Nokia, and the Energy Department

Nvidia (NVDA) stock really began picking up steam as CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote speech wrapped up, gaining over 3% to reach an all-time high of $198.20 in intraday trading.

As part of the event, Nvidia made several key announcements:
Nvidia stock climbs 2% as Jensen Huang says AI industry has ‘turned a corner’

Nvidia (NVDA) stock gained more than 2% on Tuesday afternoon as CEO Jensen Huang delivered his keynote address at the Nvidia GTC event in Washington, D.C.

“This last year, the AI industry turned a corner, meaning that the AI models are now smart enough [that] they’re worthy to pay for,” Huang said.

“AI has now reached a virtuous cycle,” he continued. “What we need to do now is drive the cost down tremendously … so that we keep this virtuous cycle going.”

As part of the keynote, Huang announced on Tuesday that Nvidia is teaming with the US Department of Energy to develop seven AI supercomputers at both the Argonne National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The company also announced a $1 billion stake in Nokia (NOK), which sent shares of the company up 26%.

To hear Huang’s full comments, watch the livestream on YouTube or below:
Consumer confidence continues to weaken as Americans see higher inflation, fewer jobs ahead

Yahoo Finance’s Emma Ockerman reports:

Read more here.
Wayfair stock skyrockets 20% on wide earnings beat

Wayfair (W) stock is up more than 20% at market open after the online furniture retailer posted third quarter results that beat estimates. Year to date, Wayfair stock has soared more than 130%.

Adjusted earnings came in at $0.70, higher than Wall Street’s forecast of $0.44. Revenue grew 8.1% year over year to $3.12 billion, more than the $3.02 billion expected, per Bloomberg consensus data. Without the exit from Germany, revenue jumped 9%.

“Revenue growth was driven by order momentum,” Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah told investors on the company’s earnings call. “We saw orders grow by over 5% year over year in the quarter, including new orders growing mid-single digits for two quarters in a row.”

Listen to Wayfair’s earnings call or read the transcript here.

One of the key questions heading into the report was whether Wayfair saw pull-forward trends by consumers ahead of President Trump’s latest tariffs on furniture, including new 25% tariffs on kitchen cabinets, upholstered furniture, and lumber after the third quarter.

Shah said, “The only instances of pull forward we’ve identified came from a very short-lived increase in large appliances demand back in the early spring and a similarly short-lived increase in vanities late in the third quarter.”

He said “neither” was exceptionally meaningful, adding that consumer behavior didn’t shift “based on tariffs.”

Despite a projection that Americans will spend less this holiday season, with PwC expecting a 5% decline in the average holiday spend, Shah believes holiday shopping “is probably going to be similar to past years.”

For the fourth quarter, the company expects net revenue to be up mid-single digits year over year.
Qualcomm sheds gains after debut of AI chip

Qualcomm (QCOM) stock on Tuesday shed some of its gains from the previous trading session.

Shares fell more than 3% Tuesday morning after rising 11% Monday following the release of AI chips and data center servers to rival products from Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD). The company also announced a partnership to supply the new AI server racks to Saudia Arabia’s HUMAIN.

Despite the stock forfeiting some of its earlier gains, Wall Street analysts shared positive takes on the news in notes to investors.

Reiterating their Buy rating on the stock, Bank of America analysts wrote Tuesday, “This announcement is a needed diversification away from the low growth smartphone market, which accounts for roughly 75% of QCT revenues.” QCT stands for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies — the company’s largest segment including its chip and software offerings.
US job market shows signs of ‘tepid recovery’ in October, ADP says

Yahoo Finance’s Myles Udland reports:

Read the full story here.
Apple’s market cap briefly tops $4 trillion

Apple (AAPL) stock drifted higher on Tuesday, and it was enough to briefly send the iPhone maker’s capitalization above the $4 trillion mark — a feat only Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT) had achieved before.

However, as of 10 a.m. ET, the stock was bouncing around the flat line.

The moves come ahead of Apple’s quarterly results, scheduled for release on Thursday. Shares also got a boost recently following a report from Counterpoint Research that found that iPhone sales jumped 14% year over year, with strong interest in the new iPhone 17 lineup.

Together, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple make up about one-fifth of the S&P 500, with a combined market cap of over $12 trillion.

Read more here.
Microsoft stock rises amid deal with OpenAI

Microsoft (MSFT) stock climbed nearly 3% Tuesday morning, leading gains among the “Magnificent Seven” Big Tech stocks following the announcement of its deal with OpenAI (OPAI.PVT).

The deal allows OpenAI to restructure itself into a public benefit corporation, paving the way for the company to go public in the future, Reuters reported. Microsoft would hold a 27% stake in the company following the restructuring.

In addition to that deal, Microsoft said it reached an agreement for OpenAI to purchase $250 billion of its Azure cloud services, though Microsoft will no longer have the right of first refusal to be OpenAI’s compute provider.

Read more here.
US stocks climb at the open

US stocks rose at the market open on Tuesday and were poised to build on Monday’s record highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led the gains, adding 0.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) moved up 0.6%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) added 0.3% after the benchmark ended above 6,800 for the first time during the previous trading session.

The upswing comes as investors sift through the latest rush of earnings and await the Federal Reserve’s meeting this week, where the central bank is expected to cut interest rates and signal more red ahead.
Stocks are still king for long-term investing, Deutsche Bank says

Yahoo Finance’s Francisco Velasquez reports:

Read more here.
PayPal stock soars 14% on earnings beat, OpenAI partnership

PayPal (PYPL) stock soared over 14% in premarket trading after the digital payments company beat earnings estimates by a wide margin and announced a new partnership with OpenAI (OPAI.PVT).

On Tuesday, the company unveiled that it is teaming up with OpenAI to integrate payment solutions into AI surfaces, such as ChatGPT.

PayPal said it will introduce an agentic payments solution called agent ready that will allow users to complete purchases on ChatGPT via PayPal. The company said it would sync merchant catalogs to make products more discoverable on AI channels.

Also on Tuesday, PayPal reported profits of $1.34 per share, compared to Wall Street estimates of $1.21, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company reported revenue of $8.4 billion, also topping expectations for $8.2 billion.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company raised its earnings guidance for the full year to a range of $5.11-$5.15, up from previous guidance of $4.90-$5.05.

Read more live coverage of corporate earnings.
Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.

Economic data: FHFA house price index (August); Richmond Federal Reserve manufacturing (October); Conference Board consumer confidence (October); Dallas Federal Reserve services activity (October)

Earnings calendar: Visa (V), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), HSBC Holdings (HSBC), NextEra Energy (NEE), Booking Holdings (BKNG), American Tower Corporation (AMT), Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL), Sherwin-Williams (SHW), Mondelez International (MDLZ), Corning (GLW), UPS (UPS), PayPal (PYPL), MSCI (MSCI), Sysco (SYY), Bloom Energy (BE)

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

Big Tech superpower is now the market’s Achilles’ heel

Nvidia CEO set to speak as Wall Street listens for hints on China

Why soaring coffee prices have Trump’s attention

Trump offers Japan ‘anything you want’ after rare earths deal

PayPal rises after striking payments wallet deal with OpenAI

Amazon to cut about 14,000 jobs as AI spending balloons

US signs $80B pact for nuclear reactors in AI push

Foxconn to invest up to $1.37 billion in AI supercomputing

Trump’s new trade deals give US an edge over Southeast Asia

Japan names companies in line for $550 billion US investment

China takes aim at US with Asia free trade pact

Russia’s Lukoil to sell assets in response to Trump sanctions
‘We want to get coffee down a little bit’: Soaring caffeine prices have Trump’s attention

Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul reports:

Read more here.
UnitedHealth rises after lifting 2025 profit forecast

UnitedHealth (UNH) raised its annual profit forecast after reporting better-than expected earnings on Tuesday, sending the health insurance company’s stock up by 4% in premarket trading.

Reuters reports:

Read more here.
UPS Q4 revenue forecast tops estimates; stock jumps

UPS (UPS) shares jumped 14% before the bell on Tuesday after the courier company forecast fourth-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates.

Reuters reports:

Read more here.
Premarket trending tickers: Qorvo, Confluent and FedEx

Qorvo (QRVO) jumped 10% before the bell on Tuesday following a report from the Information that Apple supplier Skyworks held talks in recent months to buy its rival.

Confluent (CFLT) stock rose by 11% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the tech group beat Wall Street expectations for its third-quarter earnings.

FedEx (FDX) shares were up 3% before the bell following rival UPS’s (UPS) positive third-quarter earnings results.
Amazon says it plans to cut about 14,000 corporate jobs

Amazon (AMZN) said on Tuesday it will reduce its corporate workforce by about 14,000 positions, as the tech giant tries to limit costs amid ballooning investments in AI.

Reuters reports:

Read more here.
My favorite chart right now

I am going to be talking about AI stock bubbles with Sailpoint (SAIL) CEO Mark McClain live today on Opening Bid, so I encourage you to tune in!

One chart I will be highlighting in the chat is this one from Barclays showing how big the top 10 stocks have gotten. Of course these are mostly the Mag 7 names like Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL), etc.

I sure hope the earnings we get from these companies are grand this week!
Gold drops below $4,000 mark as easing tensions push investors to take profits

Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferré reports:

Read more here.