Futures-options traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange’s NYSE American in New York City, U.S., October 22, 2025.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Stock futures edged lower on Wednesday night as investors digested quarterly earnings releases.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 87 points, or nearly 0.2%. S&P futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were both around the flatline.
A slew of third-quarter earnings came out after market close from companies including Tesla, IBM, Moderna and Lam Research. Tesla, which kicked off reports from the “Magnificent Seven” megacap tech group, saw shares dip 3% on the back of mixed third-quarter results. IBM shed about 6% after the tech company beat Wall Street estimates but reported in-line software revenue.
Investors continue to watch earnings releases from the biggest U.S. companies, which many believe could be make-or-break for the current bull market rally. More than three-quarters of S&P 500 companies reporting so far have exceeded earnings expectations.
Trade is also in focus. President Donald Trump said Wednesday evening that his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is “scheduled,” easing some fears about U.S.-China relations that had put markets under pressure on Wednesday.
In the previous session, the S&P 500 fell roughly 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 334 points, or 0.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.9% as investors rotated out of riskier assets. The moves lower came after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the White House is mulling plans to curb exports to China made with U.S. software. Those plans would build on Trump’s statement almost two weeks ago that the U.S. will implement export restrictions by Nov. 1 on “any and all critical software.”
Chris Grisanti, MAI Capital Management chief market strategist, advised traders to reallocate away from winners to pocket some gains after the broader market’s run-up this year, and instead favor less expensive pockets of the markets such as health care.
“I do think this is a particularly stressful point in the market … valuations are the second-highest they’ve been in a hundred years,” he told CNBC on Wednesday. “The market seems strong, you’ve got momentum, … but we still have these valuations.”
Grisanti added that he sees several similarities between the current landscape and the dot-com boom of the late 1990s.
“They say history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. I mean, this is rhyming pretty closely. … You’re getting meme stocks. You’re also starting to get companies that are getting priced on 2030 or 2035 projections,” he said. “These are things that we saw in ’98 and ’99, and it’s just spooky.”
Inflation data due Friday is expected to give further clues about the health of the economy, particularly ahead of the Federal Reserve’s late October meeting. Markets widely expect central bankers to cut rates by another quarter percentage point.
“We don’t think the report will deter the FOMC from cutting rates, even without supporting data on nonfarm payrolls, as many officials are fearful that the surprising weakness seen in the August jobs report signaled a sharp deterioration in jobs,” CFRA chief investment strategist Sam Stovall said in a note to clients.
