Stocks Slip After Earnings Fail to Inspire Market Confidence; Housing Market in Decline with Starts Down 5.2% in September

Anticipating strong earnings from a number of bellwether stocks later in the week, Monday's gains on the NASDAQ will ultimately turn out ot be superfluous. Like a poor running line on a race horse in the past performances, one might just as well draw a line through the day's results because they were based on nothing more than seeing how high a dead cat could bounce.

The earnings reports that will dominate the week began sorting themselves out after the close late Monday when some smaller, less-tech-related companies reported third quarter results:

Steel Dynamics (STLD) - missed top and bottom, shares off more than 5% in pre-market action
Crown Holdings (CCK) - EPS, revenue beats, stock down 4% on poor forward guidance
Zions Bancorporation (ZION) - EPS, revenue beats, stock is flat pre-open

Tuesday, before the open, these companies reported:
3M (MMM) - small EPS beat, revenue miss for Dow component, sends shares up 2% in early trading
Hasbro (HAS) - shares up 2% pre-market for toy-maker after strong EPS, revenue beats, positive forecast for holidays
Ally Financial (ALLY) - EPS beat, shares flat
Northrop Grumman (NOC) - EPS beat, revenue miss for MIC favorite; shares flat
General Motors (GM) - top and bottom beats, forecast dull, company announces $20 billion buyback, investors balk, shares down 6%
GE Aerospace (GE) - bullish forecast after EPS, earnings beats, shares down 4%
Halliburton (HAL) - EPS, revnue beats, company highlights dividend, stock up 3-4%

After Tuesday's close, there may be fireworks with Spacex (SPCX), Netflix (NFLX), United Airlines (UAL), Chubb (CB), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), and CapitalOne (COF) reporting. Stay frosty and stay tuned.

Putting Monday and Tuesday's earnings spotlight into perspective, these results were nothing special given already-high valuations in most sectors. While these companies are more mainstream economy rather than tech-related, their results suggest the economy just trundling along, growing GDP at a rate of one to two percent, but nothing to infer an overheated condition, which should be bullish against the growling angst of rate hikes at next week's FOMC meeting. Consensus says the Fed will stand pat on rates, though a 0.50% hike in December is becoming more of a worry.

Also throwing some shade on market sentiment, this morning's Housing Starts, Building Permits, and Pending Home Sales did little to instill confidence.

Housing Starts were down 5.2% in September, with August revised lower to -5.9% month-on-month. Building Permits for September were also lower, down 0.2% on a monthly basis. Another shoe to drop comes at 10:00 am, when the National Association of Realtors posts Pending Home Sales for September. The August figures showed a gain of 0.3% month over month and a flop of 4.7% year-over-year. Higher mortgage rates and high prices have contributed to the slack in the market. Single-family starts are the lowest in a year nationally.

Oil continues to be a concern as reports say two more tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran Monday night, sending WTI futures up as high as $110/barrel, catching up to Brent, which was quoted above $112. Prices on futures markets for both are off those highs prior to the opening bell on Wall Street.

France is burning, the country being wrecked by riots and mob violence, mostly coming in the form of organized youthful protestors of Arabic origin. France's CAC is down nearly five percent year-to-date with no apparent end to the violence, mostly related to upcoming elections in 2027 in which France will elect a new president and vote for delegates to their parliament. The rioting is seen by analysts to be a positive for right-leaning Marine Le Pen's National Rally party, which advocates against open immigration. Current President Emmanuel Macron is not able to run for re-election.

All of this leads to stock futures flat to slightly lower heading toward the bell. While there doesn't appear to be much to suggest stocks moving higher, there is ample supply of potholes into which investors can step if not careful.

Gold and silver continue to be depressed and suppressed. Nothing new there.

At the Close, Monday, October 19, 2026:
Dow: 51,966.03, -36.38 (-0.07%)
NASDAQ: 26,430.89, +290.85 (+1.11%)
S&P 500: 7,690.73, +31.29 (+0.41%)
NYSE Composite: 23,967.07, -121.56 (-0.50%)