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Stock market today: Dow gains, S&P 500 and Nasdaq slip as focus turns to earnings season kickoff


US stocks rose on Monday as investors geared up for big bank earnings on Tuesday and watched energy markets for geopolitical developments.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose nearly 0.4%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped below the flat line. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) sank 0.4% after a winning week on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posting record highs.

Bond markets are closed for Columbus Day, also observed as Indigenous Peoples Day.

51,451.73 -218.37 (-0.42%)

As of 2:40:17 PM EDT. Market Open.

^DJI ^GSPC ^IXIC

The bull market turned four on Monday, with many strategists expecting more room for stocks to run. However, concerns over an AI bubble, elevated Treasury yields, and geopolitical uncertainty present hurdles.

Memory makers Micron (MU) and SK Hynix (000660.KS, SKHY) declined on Monday amid growing concerns about intensifying Chinese competition.

Investors expect corporate America to deliver another quarter of robust earnings growth, and that optimism will face its first test on Tuesday when several major banks, including JPMorgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Citi (C), and Wells Fargo (WFC), report results.

Oil prices edged higher, with Brent crude futures (BZ=F) rising to $106 per barrel and WTI crude (CL=F) up to $93 per barrel, after Russia struck Ukrainian power plants. The attacks came after President Trump said Russia and Ukraine agreed to refrain from targeting each other’s energy infrastructure.

At the same time, Trump suggested the US may join Saudi Arabia in attacks on the Houthis following Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia’s main airport, which killed 12 over the weekend. Such a move would risk escalating the war in the Middle East.

While no economic data is slated for release on Monday, key inflation and retail sales data will be released on Wednesday and Thursday.

LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER 13 updates

  • Ines Ferré

    Dow gains, S&P 500, Nasdaq slip as semiconductor stocks take a hit

    Stocks closed the session mixed ahead of earnings season, with semicondcutor stocks falling.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.4%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell below the flat line. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) lost 0.4% as semiconductor stocks declined.

    922.80 -30.24 (-3.17%)

    As of 2:40:16 PM EDT. Market Open.

    MU SKHY

    Memory makers Micron (MU) and SK Hynix (000660.KS, SKHY) saw their stocks fall after Chinese memory maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) (688825.SS) announced significant progress on a new cell design.

    Meta’s (META) shares gained more than 3% after CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the Financial Times that the social media platform’s Muse Wonder model has caught up with frontier AI labs.

  • Sandisk stock is this bull market’s emergent star

    Yahoo Finance’s Grace O’Donnell reports:

    Sandisk stock (SNDK) has soared over 3,000% since its IPO a year and a half ago.

    As Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman pointed out on this fourth anniversary of the bull market, Sandisk has had the best performance of any S&P 500 (^GSPC) stock, outrunning Palantir (No. 2, up 2,490%), Vertiv (No. 3, up 2,125%), Nvidia (No. 4, up 1,894%), and Micron (No. 5, up 1,851%).

    There’s one caveat to that title: Sandisk’s incredible run is purely a 2025-2026 story. In February 2025, Western Digital (WDC) spun off its flash memory unit, and SanDisk began trading as a separate entity at $52 per share, according to Yahoo Finance data.

    Read more here.

  • Meta launches Muse Wonder AI model family with frontier-level performance

    Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports:

    Meta’s (META) vast investments in its Meta Superintelligence Labs continue to pay dividends, as the company unveiled its AI models, Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full, on Monday.

    According to the social media giant, the models, which are available today, are designed to provide “state-of-the-art” performance across personal and professional AI agents and put the company squarely in the conversation for frontier-level AI.

    The software will eventually power more of the company’s Muse AI agent, which Meta launched early last month and has exploded in popularity.

    Read more here.

  • Ebay stock pops 4% as analysts points to Live Commerce taking off

    Shares of eBay (EBAY) popped 4% on Monday after Morgan Stanley analysts selected the online market as a Top Pick.

    Analyst Nathan Feather said the company’s “Live Commerce market has started to take off in the US.” The feature was originally launched in 2022 and has expanded significantly since.

    “EBAY’s GMV [gross merchandise volume] growth acceleration has surprised even the most bullish investors, but the market has struggled to identify why,” wrote Feather on Monday.

    “The $27B live selling market appears to be the missing piece, as we estimate it’s driving 40%+ of EBAY’s growth,” added the analyst, raising the stock’s price target to $132 from $127, while maintaining an Overweight rating.

    Ebay stock has risen 33% year-to-date.

    Earlier this year, video game retailer GameStop made an unsolicited $56 billion bid for Ebay, which was later rejected by the company.

    GameStop saw its profits rise last quarter, with a boost to its bottom line partly from its stake in eBay (EBAY).

  • Meta’s Muse AI agent brings back 73% of new users — nearly double ChatGPT’s rate

    Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports:

    With Meta’s (META) new Muse AI agent being the main driver of the stock price at the moment, digesting fresh data on its usage is fast becoming mission-critical for investors.

    Here are some new numbers to feed the Muse beast, so to speak. All in all, they continue to paint Muse in a positive light.

    Muse brings back 73% of new users the day after they install it, according to new analysis from Sensor Tower (see chart below). This is almost twice the rate of OpenAI’s (OPAI.PVT) ChatGPT. But Muse loses users quickly, and ChatGPT jumps ahead between days eight and nine.

    Even still, Muse retains a solid number of users — enough to keep it in second place behind ChatGPT.

    Read more here.

  • David Hollerith

    Why bank stocks shocked everyone by getting thrashed

    Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports:

    So much for bank stocks loving higher interest rates.

    That old saw is being completely ignored ahead of earnings from big banks, which kick off this week with numbers out of JPMorgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Wells Fargo (WFC).

    Share prices across the entire banking sector have flat-out crashed, placing many top names in correction territory — down 10% from their highs.

    Over the past month, JPMorgan has shed 6%, Citigroup is down 6.5%, Wells Fargo is off 7%, Morgan Stanley (MS) is down 11%, Goldman Sachs is down 12%, and Bank of America is down 13%.

    Even the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index (^BKX), which tracks the 24 publicly traded US banking stocks, is now down more than 14% from its August peak.

    Read more.

  • Ines Ferré

    Micron, SK Hynix stocks fall as Chinese memory maker announces progress in new design

    Micron (MU) and SK Hynix (000660.KS, SKHY) stocks fell over 3% as Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) tumbled 4% alongside the broader South Korean stock market.

    922.80 -30.24 (-3.17%)

    As of 2:40:16 PM EDT. Market Open.

    MU SKHY 005930.KS

    The move comes after Chinese memory maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) (688825.SS) announced significant progress in a new memory-cell design aimed at increasing storage density, an area of innovation also being pursued by the largest memory makers in the world, including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron.

    CXMT aims to introduce a new server memory product built on the architecture by the end of 2026, company president Cao Kanyu said at an industry event in Shanghai over the weekend.

    Read more.

  • Starbucks confirms it is not buying Chipotle

    Starbucks (SBUX) does not plan to acquire Chipotle (CMG), the company confirmed on Monday. The news sent Starbucks stock slightly higher in relief, while Chipotle stock fell over 4%.

    “As a matter of policy, we don’t comment on rumors and speculation, but we want to be clear we are not buying Chipotle,” a spokesperson told Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma.

    Brooke noted that the company added that it is “laser focused on executing our Back to Starbucks strategy” and generating momentum ahead of its next quarterly results on Oct. 29, 2026, after the closing bell.

    The statement follows a Financial Times report last Thursday that suggested the coffee giant was interested in a takeover of the burrito chain.

    Read more.

  • David Hollerith

    Stocks edge higher as oil rises ahead of earnings-heavy week

    US stocks rose at Monday’s open as investors kicked off a crucial earnings week with oil prices edging higher and reports from some of Wall Street’s biggest banks on tap Tuesday.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.4%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained less than 0.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was little changed.

    51,451.73 -218.37 (-0.42%)

    As of 2:40:17 PM EDT. Market Open.

    ^DJI ^GSPC ^IXIC

    Investors enter the week with third quarter earnings taking center stage after a volatile stretch for markets defined by soaring interest rates and elevated oil prices. 

    Oil prices didn’t offer stocks relief Monday as investors continue to monitor developments in the Middle East. Brent crude futures (BZ=F) rose earlier Monday, hovering just below $107 per barrel at the stock market’s open.

    JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) kick off big bank earnings Tuesday morning after weeks of trading in the red. 

    Analysts expect solid quarterly results from a year earlier, but with the sharp rise in interest rates and fewer blockbuster deals, forecasts see third quarter reports falling short of their bumper second quarter.

    Investors will also be on high alert for any clues around what the impact of higher rates will mean for the banking giants’ Wall Street and Main Street businesses. 

  • Goldman strategists upgrade global stocks on earnings boost

    Bloomberg reports:

    Group Inc. strategists are turning positive on global stocks for the short term, citing a boost from strong earnings for markets already trading near all-time highs.

    Equity prices are less demanding after higher oil prices and bond yields stalled the rally, while the outlook for profits is still healthy, the team led by Christian Mueller-Glissmann wrote in a note. They raised their three-month view on stocks to overweight from neutral, matching their bullish stance over a 12-month timeline.

    “Earnings growth remains supportive for equities and the recent valuation de-rating has improved asymmetry into the third-quarter earnings season,” Mueller-Glissmann said.

    The equity market is set for a high-stakes reporting season that will be crucial to sustaining the rally through to year-end. Analysts expect S&P 500 companies to post a 25% jump in third-quarter profits compared with a year earlier, among the best rates of increase on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

    Read more.

  • Strip out AI stocks, and the US market lags Europe

    Yahoo Finance’s Jake Conley reports:

    If you’ve ever wondered what the US stock market might look like without AI, look no further than Europe.

    The S&P 500 (^GSPC) has gained roughly 13.5% since the start of the year, adding roughly $9 trillion in market capitalization as the tech sector’s run has lifted the entire index even as other sectors have faltered.

    But strip out AI-related stocks, and the picture changes. Remove those companies, and the US equity market hasn’t beaten Europe — it has instead slightly lagged, as European markets have found their own strength. An index of the so-called “old economy” that removes AI-related names has gained just 5.5% since Jan. 1. Europe’s STOXX 600 index (^STOXX), tracking the leading 600 companies in Europe, has gained roughly 5.6% over the same period.

    “The bloc has probably missed out on the AI investment boom,” BNP Paribas economists James Egelhof and Andrew Husby wrote to clients.

    Read more.

  • Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.

  • Oil falls on hopes Russia-Ukraine energy ceasefire will boost supplies

    Reuters reports:

    Oil prices slipped on Monday on expectations of more Russian supplies after US President Donald Trump said Ukraine and Russia had agreed to halt attacks on each other’s energy facilities following a ‌US diesel-supply deal with Moscow.

    ICE gasoil futures fell 3% to $1,436 per barrel after President Trump said on Friday that Russia will immediately supply more ​than 300,000 metric tons (2.25 million barrels) of diesel to US and global markets.

    Russia would supply another 500,000 tons in November and a further 1 million tons “immediately thereafter”, Trump added. The daily diesel consumption globally is forecast at close to 29 million barrels, according to the International Energy Agency.

    Trump also unexpectedly announced on Sunday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to an energy ceasefire, but Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was still ‌waiting to see details of the energy ceasefire ⁠while Russia did not comment.

    The announcements eased some of the immediate supply pressure, Tim Waterer, KCM Trade chief analyst, said.

    Read more.



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