Market Wrap
Published
The S&P 500 closed up 0.3%, recovering an early slide tied to a week-long semiconductor rout as financials, consumer discretionary and health care names rallied even while chipmakers stayed under pressure.
The session traded against an escalating Middle East backdrop. A civilian vessel, the M/V GFS Pride, sank after being struck by an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps projectile near the Strait of Hormuz, and explosions were reported in Jeddah, Yemen's Aden and Saudi Arabia's Najran and Jazan regions through the day. Reports surfaced that the White House is preparing plans to potentially use the "mother of all bombs" against Iran. Crude jumped 3% to settle at $97.97 a barrel as the International Energy Agency agreed to complete release of 100 million barrels from reserves and push for an additional 20 million barrels of diesel. Treasury yields fell sharply on haven demand, with the 5- and 7-year notes down roughly 15 basis points, even as September producer prices ran hot at 1.3% month over month versus 0.6% expected and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index slid to 20.9 from 37.8. Weekly jobless claims came in at 199,000, close to expectations.
Sector performance showed a clear value tilt. Financials led, up 1.4%, with Coinbase, Moody's and BlackRock among the strongest gainers, though Charles Schwab fell 2.7% after sliding to its lowest level since June. Consumer Discretionary rose 1.7% on strength in Pool Corp, Expedia and Lennar, while Health Care added 1.9% led by Moderna and Zoetis. Materials gained 1.7% despite FMC Corp collapsing 30.3%, which also weighed on Corteva, down 4.0%. Technology was the weakest major sector, down 0.6%, as the semiconductor rout continued: HP Enterprise fell 7.1%, Arista Networks dropped 5.1%, and Nvidia lost 1.8%. Energy fell 1.8% even as crude rallied, and Utilities slipped 0.2%. Equal-weight and value factors outperformed, with the S&P 500 Equal Weight gauge up 1.4% against a 1.1% decline in the momentum factor.
Company News
- FMC Corp plunged 30.3% in its sharpest decline on the tape, dragging fellow chemicals maker Corteva lower.
- BNY Mellon and PNC Financial both beat quarterly earnings estimates, but PNC shares fell 7.3% on the session.
- U.S. Bancorp reported in-line EPS, citing record net revenue of $8.0 billion and a 69.3% jump in capital markets revenue following its BTIG integration.
- Marsh McLennan topped estimates and disclosed $500 million in third-quarter buybacks.
- Interactive Brokers missed on EPS but raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 from $0.0875 per share.
- Transocean's acquisition of Valaris cleared Brazilian antitrust review without restrictions.
- Rocket Lab fell further after disclosing its Neutron launch vehicle debut has slipped to 2027.
- CoreWeave reversed an earlier decline to close higher after Nvidia's Jensen Huang said the company's business does not need backstopping.
- Dell Technologies and Coherent Corp remained among the session's steepest decliners amid the broader AI-infrastructure selloff.
- KFC is nearing a deal to switch its U.S. beverage partnership from Pepsi to Coca-Cola, with the transition targeted for completion by spring 2027.