US Equities · Pre-Open BriefingAlso todaySee the US Macro Daily

Stocks rise on inflation and oil

October 20, 2026

The October 19, 2026 cash session, and what is scheduled today

The S&P 500 rose 0.41% to 7,690.73 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.11% to 26,430.89, with the Nasdaq-100 up 1.17%.

Breadth176 up / 324 down

LeadershipNasdaq-100 by 0.76pp

Member coverage100%

Futures now

Ahead of the open, S&P 500 futures are down 0.15%, Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.57%, Dow futures up 0.09% and Russell 2000 futures down 0.11% against their previous settlement. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 is down 1.30%, the Hang Seng down 1.32% and the Shanghai Composite up 0.12%. In Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 is down 0.93%, the DAX down 0.68% and the FTSE 100 down 0.55%. Across markets, WTI is down 2.63% at 100.93, Gold is down 0.46% at 4,141.00 and EUR/USD is down 0.10% at 1.1215.

Market	Level	Change	As of
S&P 500 futures	7,722.75	-11.75 (-0.15%)	2026-10-20
Nasdaq 100 futures	29,551.75	-170.75 (-0.57%)	2026-10-20
Dow futures	52,230.00	+48.00 (+0.09%)	2026-10-20
Russell 2000 futures	2,739.40	-2.90 (-0.11%)	2026-10-20

Where the tape closed

S&P 500

7,690.73

+31.29 (+0.41%)

5d -1.49% · 1m +0.53%

Nasdaq Composite

26,430.89

+290.86 (+1.11%)

5d -2.99% · 1m -0.35%

Nasdaq-100

29,529.34

+341.79 (+1.17%)

5d -3.70% · 1m -0.39%

VIX

18.44

-1.55 (-7.75%)

5d +21.24% · 1m +24.51%

The Session

Of the 503 S&P 500 members that printed, 176 rose and 324 fell. Information Technology led the sector table at +1.41% on an equal-weighted basis and Utilities sat at the bottom at -1.89%. Amazon (AMZN) rose 4.98% and carried the largest share of the weighted index move. The VIX fell 7.75% to 18.44. Three universe names reported on the session.

World news

Iran war tilts balance of global oil power towards AmericasFinancial Times
Rupee Rises 9 Paise to 94.80 vs US Dollar; Crude Oil a Threat - Rediff MoneyWizGoogle News IN
Chinese carmakers gear up European production to sidestep tariffs, import quota - South China Morning PostGoogle News CN Trade
Rupee Gains 9 Paise To 94.80, RBI Intervention Supports Recovery Amid $110 Crude Oil Concerns - Free Press JournalGoogle News IN
Sensex settles 850 pts lower, Nifty ends below 22,900: Elevated crude oil prices among key factors behind... - Moneycontrol.comMoneycontrol IN (via GN)

The day ahead

Economic calendar

No medium- or high-impact US release scheduled.

Reporting today

Before the open: GE (cons. 2.02) · RTX (cons. 1.78) · MMM (cons. 2.41) · NOC (cons. 7.22) · GM (cons. 3.55) · MSCI (cons. 4.98) · HAL (cons. 0.58) · SYF (cons. 2.48) · KEY (cons. 0.46) · EFX (cons. 2.19) · GPC (cons. 2.09) · HAS (cons. 1.86)

After the close: NFLX (cons. 0.82) · ISRG (cons. 2.13) · CB (cons. 6.53) · COF (cons. 5.45) · UAL (cons. 2.60)

Time not set: OMC (cons. 2.68)

Overnight and across markets

Asia and Europe

Market	Level	Change	As of
Nikkei 225	64,075.42	-841.28 (-1.30%)	2026-10-20
Hang Seng	23,867.74	-319.09 (-1.32%)	2026-10-20
Shanghai Composite	3,735.37	+4.45 (+0.12%)	2026-10-20
Euro Stoxx 50	6,087.82	-56.99 (-0.93%)	2026-10-20
DAX	25,148.72	-171.05 (-0.68%)	2026-10-20
FTSE 100	10,705.97	-58.73 (-0.55%)	2026-10-20

Commodities, currencies and rates

Market	Level	Change	As of
WTI crude	100.93	-2.73 (-2.63%)	2026-10-20
Gold	4,141.00	-19.10 (-0.46%)	2026-10-20
EUR/USD	1.1215	-0.0011 (-0.10%)	2026-10-20
USD/JPY	158.19	+0.38 (+0.24%)	2026-10-20
US 10-year yield	5.15%	—	2026-10-19

Where the indices sit

S&P 500 daily bars for the last 30 sessions, then three months of closes rebased to 100.

S&P 500 — last 30 sessions · daily OHLC · 2026-09-08 to 2026-10-19

Index path, three months — rebased to 100 at 2026-07-17

S&P 500 against the VIX · left axis: index level · right axis: VIX

What carried the session

Proxy: dollar-volume share among members that printed, times the move. Not official index weight.

S&P 500 — largest contributions · dollar-volume share × session move · proxy weighting

Nasdaq-100 — largest contributions · dollar-volume share × session move · proxy weighting

Ticker	Name	Session	Contribution
AMZNSPXNDX	Amazon	+4.98%	+17.0 bp
MUSPXNDX	Micron Technology	+2.97%	+16.3 bp
SNDKSPXNDX	Sandisk	+5.53%	+15.3 bp
TSLASPXNDX	Tesla, Inc.	+3.76%	+12.7 bp
NVDASPXNDX	Nvidia	+1.38%	+7.0 bp
INTCSPXNDX	Intel	+2.43%	+5.4 bp
PLTRSPXNDX	Palantir Technologies	+4.36%	+4.8 bp
AMDSPXNDX	Advanced Micro Devices	+1.76%	+4.5 bp

Breadth and sectors

Sector moves equal-weighted across members that printed.

Distribution of member moves · S&P 500 members per 1% bucket

Sector read — average member move · equal-weighted across S&P 500 members that printed

Sector	Average member move	Members
Information Technology	+1.41%	75
Consumer Discretionary	-0.06%	47
Communication Services	-0.21%	22
Materials	-0.23%	24
Health Care	-0.29%	60
Industrials	-0.65%	83
Energy	-0.66%	21
Consumer Staples	-0.71%	34
Financials	-0.73%	76
Real Estate	-1.32%	30
Utilities	-1.89%	31

Largest moves

Largest moves — best and worst 6 prints

Risers

Ticker	Name	Session
WDCSPXNDX	Western Digital	+6.09%
SNDKSPXNDX	Sandisk	+5.53%
DDOGSPXNDX	Datadog	+5.36%
TWLOSPX	Twilio	+5.29%
AMZNSPXNDX	Amazon	+4.98%
PLTRSPXNDX	Palantir Technologies	+4.36%
MRNASPXNDX	Moderna	+4.07%
MRVLSPXNDX	Marvell Technology	+4.06%

Fallers

Ticker	Name	Session
MOSSPX	Mosaic Company (The)	-4.78%
NRGSPX	NRG Energy	-4.21%
AMPSPX	Ameriprise Financial	-4.07%
ESSPX	Eversource Energy	-3.55%
HONASPXNDX	Honeywell Aerospace	-3.33%
FLEXSPX	Flex Ltd.	-3.23%
DOCSPX	Healthpeak Properties	-3.06%
CEGSPXNDX	Constellation Energy	-3.01%

Earnings reported in the session

Beat and miss shown only where consensus and actual are both published.

Ticker	Name	Slot	EPS est.	Reported	Surprise	Result
FITB	Fifth Third Bancorp	Before open	1.09	—	—	—
STLD	Steel Dynamics, Inc.	After close	5.42	—	—	—
WRB	W.R. Berkley Corporation	After close	1.14	—	—	—

Headlines in the session window

The S&P 500 is masking a market pullback. Why Morgan Stanley says a retreat by the index would signal a buying opportunity.MarketWatch
US stocks rebound after AI sell-offFinancial Times
Nasdaq, S&P 500 Futures Rebound After Fed Rate Hike: NVDA, NBIS, SNAP, SPCX, BE, GNRC Stocks In Focus - StocktwitsGoogle News US
Nasdaq climbs as chip and AI-linked stocks bounce back - ReutersReuters Business
Asian Stocks Fall, Bucking U.S. Tech ReboundWSJ Markets
US Stocks Rebound Ahead of Earnings; Zelenskyy Says Trump Pushing Kyiv to YieldBloomberg Markets
Stock Market Today: Dismal Data-Center IPO Weighs on Tech InvestorsWSJ Markets
Cleveland-Cliffs Reports Third-Quarter 2026 ResultsFinancial Post

Fed and macro

No high-impact US print on the calendar for this session or the next.

What to watch

18 universe names on the next earnings calendar (GE, NFLX, RTX, ISRG, CB, COF).

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