The DOW JONES index fell 0.38% to 47,452.55 points. The most penalized stock is Merck&Co, which fell 2.65%, while Microsoft fell 2%. On the advance side, Apple rose 1.4% and Sherwin-Williams 1.23%.
The S&P 500 lost 0.59%, at 6,850.18 points, while the technology Nasdaq fell 0.84% to 23,758.29 points.
Wall Street is coming off a session from more to less, in which Jerome Powell’s warnings about the December Fed meeting deflated part of the euphoria of recent days. The DOW JONES, which had just set highs, ended up falling 0.16%, while the S&P 500 closed flat. The technology Nasdaq did manage to rise 0.55% and set new highs, encouraged by giants like NVIDIA.
On Wednesday, The Fed met the forecasts and cut interest rates by 25 percentage pointsuntil leaving them in a range between 3.75% and 4.00%. However, the president of the institution, Jerome Powell, poured cold water on the markets in his subsequent press conference by warning that «a new reduction in the reference rate at the December meeting is not a certainty. Far from it.»
Meanwhile, the long-awaited meeting has finally taken place between the president of the United States, Donald Trumpand its Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. After this meeting, held in Korea, Beijing has suspended export controls on rare earths, while Washington has reduced tariffs related to fentanyl.
Chinese export controls announced on October 9 will be postponed for a year, while the US will similarly postpone the implementation of measures announced on September 29. Tariffs linked to fentanyl will be reduced from 20% to 10%, which will reduce the tax on Chinese exports from 57% to 47%. Trump told reporters aboard the Air Force that the meeting with Xi was «incredible» and that «a lot of decisions were made.» “The issue of rare earths is resolved,” said the US president, adding that it is an annual agreement that will be negotiated every year.
However, it should be noted that the restrictions on rare earths imposed by Beijing in early April remain in force.
Magnificent Three in the spotlight: Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet
In the business section, the earnings season continues to advance at a good pace. Until yesterday, 222 S&P 500 companies had presented their accounts, with an average increase in earnings per share of 14.6%, compared to the 8.5% expected before the publication of the first company. The qualitative balance is as follows: 84% exceed expectations, 4% are in line and the remaining 12% disappoint. In the last quarter (2Q’25) earnings per share increased 13.3%, compared to the expected 5.8%.
Yesterday after the close of regular trading, three of the so-called Magnificent 7 presented results: Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta.
Bad reception for Microsoft, which fell 2% at the opening despite beating market expectations. The announcement by the financial director, Amy Hood, that Capital spending growth to accelerate this fiscal year. In its fiscal first quarter, Microsoft posted earnings per share of $3.72, above the expected $3.67, while revenue rose 18% to $77.67 billion, compared to the expected $75.33 billion. The Azure cloud business especially shone, with a 40% increase in revenue.
Alphabet shares rise 3.8% after the company presented solid results, including Google Cloud and YouTube revenues above expectations. Google’s parent company posted adjusted earnings per share of $3.10, compared to the expected $2.33 per share. Revenues reached $102.35 billion, compared to the $99.89 billion expected by the market.
Sharp drop of almost 12% for Meta Platforms despite the fact that the company has beaten expectations in both revenue and profits. The company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has put earnings of $7.25 per share on revenue of $51.24 billion on the table. Analysts expected $6.69 in profits and $49.41 billion in revenue. The company recorded an extraordinary charge of almost $16 billion during the quarter, related to Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Act’, while warning that Your capital expenditures will be higher in 2026 compared to this year.
Keep in mind that two other great companies, Apple and Amazon, will present their accounts after the close of regular business today. Having already known Tesla’s results weeks ago, within this select club only NVIDIA will be missing, which will not break down its report until well into November. The company has been a protagonist in the market after yesterday becoming the first company in the world to overcome the barrier of 5 trillion dollars in market capitalization.
Avalanche of results; Eli Lilly, Merck, Starbucks and more
In the pharmaceutical sector, Merck is down 2.65% after mixed results. The company posted adjusted earnings of $2.58 per share and revenue of $17.28 billion. Analysts had expected $2.35 per share profit and $16.96 billion in revenue. However, revenue from its drug Keytruda reached $8.14 billion, slightly below the consensus of $8.24 billion.
Eli Lilly & Co has surpassed market estimates in the third quarter, while raising its forecasts for the whole year, thanks to the Strong demand for its blockbuster weight loss drug, Zepbound, and diabetes treatment, Mounjaro. Earnings per share reached $7.02, versus $5.69 expected, while revenue reached $17.6 billion, versus $16.01 billion.
The pharmaceutical giant now expects its fiscal 2025 revenue to be between $63 billion and $63.5 billion, up from a previous forecast of $60 billion to $62 billion. Eli Lilly also expects full-year adjusted earnings to be between $23 and $23.70 per share, up from its previous guidance of $21.75 and $23 per share. Its shares rise 5.7%.
Comcast has exceeded expectations, with earnings per share of $1.12 versus the expected $1.10 per share, while revenues reached 31.2 billion, compared to the expected 30.7 billion. The bad news is that it lost 104,000 US broadband customers during the period, reducing its total subscriber base to approximately 31.4 million. This was the fourth consecutive quarter in which Comcast failed to grow its broadband customer base.
One of the big disappointments of the day is Chipotle Mexican, which plummets 21%. The restaurant chain expects sales in comparable stores to drop by one digit in the fiscal year, when it previously predicted growth between 1% and 5%.
10% punishment for eBay, weighed down by a disappointing fourth quarter earnings forecastalthough the third quarter results exceeded expectations in both revenue and profits. eBay has put on the table adjusted earnings of $1.36 per share, above the $1.33 per share expected by the analysts consulted. Revenue reached $2.82 billion, compared to the expected $2.73 billion.
Starbucks falls 3% after the coffee chain published lower than expected profitsalthough it posted comparable-store sales growth for the first time in nearly two years. Starbucks earned an adjusted profit of 52 cents per share on revenue of $9.57 billion. Earnings missed the estimate of 56 cents a share, but revenue beat the forecast of $9.35 billion.
Estée Lauder obtained earnings of 32 cents per share on revenue of $3.48 billionwhile analysts had forecast 18 cents per share and revenue of $3.38 billion.
In commodity markets, oil prices are moving lower after the meeting between Trump and Xi. US West Texas oil futures fell 0.99% to $59.88. The international benchmark Brent oil is paid at $63.70 per barrel, with a decrease of 0.96%.
The exchange rate between the euro and the dollar stands at 1.1564 dollars, with a fall of 0.36% in the euro after the Fed and ECB meetings.