Dow Jumps as Health Care Hits a Record; GM Slides, 3M and Northrop Rally

It's Tuesday, October twentieth. This is Trade and Ticker, the lunch report. Here's your midday check on U.S. stocks.

Three things still matter into the afternoon. First, the Dow is leading a broad rally, while the Nasdaq is stuck near the flat line. Second, oil is pulling back from near a five-month high, on hopes for diplomacy with Iran. Third, SpaceX and Netflix report after the close.

Here's the picture at midday. Most stocks are higher, but big tech isn't joining in. As of about one o'clock Eastern, the Dow is up about nine-tenths of a percent, or roughly four hundred seventy-five points. The S-and-P is up about three-tenths of a percent. And the Nasdaq is just about flat. Small companies are doing even better, with the Russell two thousand up more than one and a half percent. That's a turnaround from this morning, when Nasdaq futures were pointing lower. The Dow was up more than six hundred points earlier in the session, so some of that gain has faded.

Health care is the best group in the S-and-P, up more than two percent, after the sector hit a record high this morning. Real estate and utilities are both up more than one percent. Technology and communication services are flat to a little lower, and energy is flat.

Eli Lilly is a big part of the health care move. It's up more than four percent and hit an all-time high this morning, after positive trial results for its ulcerative colitis drug in children. UnitedHealth is up more than three and a half percent, and Merck is up about three.

Now the morning's earnings, where the reaction is split. 3M is up about six percent after it beat forecasts, raised its profit outlook, and expanded its data-center partnership with Amazon. Northrop Grumman is up about five percent after a profit beat and a higher outlook. Equifax is up about ten percent after its own profit beat, and Hasbro is up more than seven percent. On the other side, General Motors is down almost eight percent. GM beat forecasts, but the midpoint of its new profit outlook for the year came in below what Wall Street expected, and it warned about higher costs for commodities and chips. GE Aerospace is down about four and a half percent. It raised its outlook, but its free cash flow came in below expectations. R-T-X was higher before the bell, but it's now down less than one percent. And Steel Dynamics is down about one and a half percent after missing profit forecasts.

The A-I trade is steadier than it looked before the bell. CoreWeave was down in early trading, and now it's up about two and a half percent. Nebius has erased its early drop and is flat. The Philadelphia chip index is up slightly, and Nvidia is flat. Western Digital is up about two percent. Tesla is up about one and a half percent. The weak spots are in the megacaps. Meta is down about two percent ahead of its earnings tomorrow night. Alphabet is down about one percent. And Apple is down about seven-tenths of a percent after Loop Capital downgraded it to hold.

Now oil and rates. Brent crude touched its highest level since May overnight, but it's lower now, after an unconfirmed report that mediators had offered a proposal to restart talks between the U.S. and Iran. The ten-year Treasury yield is a little lower, at about five-point-one-three percent. On housing, pending home sales fell seven-point-three percent in September, to the lowest level since the index began in two thousand one, as mortgage rates climbed past seven percent. Homebuilder stocks are higher anyway.

After the close today, SpaceX reports earnings for only the second time as a public company. Investors want details on its A-I business and how much it plans to spend. SpaceX shares are down a little less than one percent today. Netflix reports too, and it's down less than half a percent. Also tonight, United Airlines, which is up almost three percent today, plus Capital One, Intuitive Surgical, and the insurer Chubb. Capital One and Intuitive Surgical are each up about one percent. And tomorrow night brings Tesla and Meta.

Watch three things into the close. First, whether the Dow can hold most of its gain, or keeps fading from the morning high. Second, whether oil keeps falling as the Iran report gets tested. Third, whether CoreWeave and the chip stocks stay higher heading into SpaceX tonight and Meta tomorrow.

That's the midday picture. We'll be back this evening with a company deep dive on the day's biggest stories. Thanks for listening. I'm Trade and Ticker.