Noteworthy S&P 500 Movers on Friday
October 24, 2025 05:29 PM EDT
Advancers
- Ford Motor (F) was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 Friday, soaring over 12% after the automaker posted third-quarter earnings that topped analysts’ estimates. The strong results overshadowed a cut to Ford’s outlook, related to the impacts of a fire at an aluminum supplier. Shares of other big automakers, including General Motors (GM), also rose. Tesla (TSLA), which reported quarterly results late Wednesday, finished more than 3% lower.
- Shares of International Business Machines (IBM) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) jumped nearly 8% to finish at record highs following a report that IBM found it could run a key quantum computing error-correcting algorithm on an easy-to-get and reasonably priced chip made by AMD.
- Micron Technology (MU), which supplies memory solutions for AMD and Nvidia (NVDA) chips, also gained following the news, adding 6%. The SOX index of semiconductor stocks finished the day up 1.9%.
Decliners
- Deckers Outdoor (DECK) shares plunged more than 15% to lead decliners on the benchmark index. The Ugg and Hoka shoe maker gave a weaker-than-expected outlook, saying it anticipates a pullback in consumer spending because of tariffs and higher prices.
- Shares of Newmont (NEM), the world’s largest gold miner, fell 6.2% amid concerns about its production outlook, though its third-quarter results topped analysts’ estimates as the price of gold has lately surged.
Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Post Weekly Gains of Around 2%
October 24, 2025 04:11 PM EDT
The three major stock indexes ended a strong week on a high note.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all surged Friday to help record weekly gains of at around 2%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced about 2.3% over the five sessions this week, while the blue-chip Dow added 2.2% and the benchmark S&P 500 tacked on 1.9%.
For the year, the Nasdaq, S&P 500, and Dow are up more than 20%, 15%, and 11%, respectively.
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Comfort Systems Stock Is Up Nearly 20% Today. Here’s Why
October 24, 2025 03:21 PM EDT
Comfort Systems shares are looking hot.
The heating, ventilation and air conditioning company’s stock was recently zooming higher, jumping nearly 18% on Friday to extend 2025 and all-time highs; the shares, recently trading around $971, finished last year at $422.82. Today’s jump marks the second big one-day move in the second half of this year alone.
Some investors have seized on the stock as a beneficiary of AI-related growth and the belief that it can continue. Recent sources of demand, the company has said, have largely come from data centers and chip plant projects. That’s attracted investors looking for different ways to benefit from booming spending.
It’s showing up in the numbers. Yesterday Comfort Systems (FIX) reported substantial third-quarter year-over-year growth in revenue, net income and free cash flow, as well as a bigger backlog. That backlog, which implies sustained strength in sales, is likely a large reason for the stock’s upward move today.
“This was the second consecutive quarter where backlog expanded [by more than $1 billion] sequentially, highlighting the strength of demand backdrop,” wrote UBS analysts, who have a bullish rating on the stock, on Friday. The shares’ valuation, meanwhile, was already rich by some historical measures before today’s jump, William Blair analysts wrote today, though they found it “justified” by the company’s performance.
The stock isn’t too widely covered by Wall Street analysts, per Visible Alpha, despite a market capitalization north of $30 billion. But today’s move has the current consensus price target, a few bucks under $920, in the rear-view mirror.
Why AMD and IBM Shares Just Took Quantum Leaps to Record Highs
October 24, 2025 02:50 PM EDT
AMD and IBM took quantum leaps on Friday.
Shares in the two companies jumped to record highs after Reuters reported that International Business Machines (IBM) has found that it could run a key quantum computing error-correcting algorithm on an easy-to-get and reasonably priced chip made by Advanced Micro Devices.
Reuters said that a research paper to be released by IBM Monday shows that it can run those algorithms in real time on a kind of chip—called a field programmable gate array semiconductor— manufactured by AMD.
AMD shares, which have more than doubled since the start of the year, were up nearly 7% in mid-afternoon trading Friday. IBM stock surged more than 7%, taking its year-to-date gain to about 40%, making it the second-biggest gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2025. Shares of Micron (MU), which makes memory solutions for AMD and Nvidia (NVDA) chips, rose 5% on Friday.
Read the full article here.
Booz Allen Hamilton Stock Sinks as Government Contractor Cuts Outlook, Workforce
October 24, 2025 02:15 PM EDT
BAH, humbug.
Shares of Booz Allen Hamilton Holding (BAH) sank 10% Friday after the firm slashed its outlook and announced job cuts along with its fiscal 2026 second-quarter results.
Booz Allen, which bills itself as “an advanced technology company delivering outcomes with speed for America’s most critical defense, civil, and national security priorities,” reported adjusted earnings of $1.49 per share on revenue that declined 8% year-over-year to $2.89 billion. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha had projected $1.52 and $2.97 billion, respectively.
The government contractor said its poor performance was “driven by (the) continued funding slowdown.”
In addition, CEO Horacio Rozanski said the firm’s “customer facing staff was down about 3% sequentially in the quarter and is now down 10% year over year,” according to a transcript of the earnings call provided by AlphaSense. “These declines largely reflect lingering effects from contract run rate reductions in our civil business, as well as deliberate actions to improve utilization of existing staff.”
Booz Allen now sees fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS of $5.45 to $5.65, down from the prior $6.20 to $6.55, and revenue of $11.3 billion to $11.5 billion, lowered from the previous range of $12.0 billion to $12.5 billion.
Shares of Booz Allen are down about 30% this year.
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Auto Stocks Surge as Carmakers Navigate Policy Shifts with ‘Robust’ Sales
October 24, 2025 01:22 PM EDT
America’s big car companies are firing on several cylinders.
General Motors (GM) and Ford (F), plus foreign-owned Stellantis (STLA), which owns the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands, all reported a healthy uptick in domestic vehicle sales in the latest quarter. They’re also having an easier time than expected navigating federal policy: Washington recently eased tariffs on some auto parts and is backing away from fuel emissions standards, a move manufacturers say could save them billions.
Kyle Grillot / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Investors are taking notice. GM shares shot up some 15% after the company reported its third-quarter results on Tuesday, sending the stock to a record high. Ford shares were up 9% Friday, a strong day for stocks broadly, after handing in its numbers late Thursday. Stellantis is on track to finish the week up nearly 4%.
“The auto market remains more robust than initially expected while favorable environmental regulatory changes open up opportunities for the company to boost profits,” Bank of America wrote about GM’s results.
Car companies’ electric vehicle businesses boomed as Americans rushed to take advantage of an expiring tax credit. Gas-powered models moved quickly too. GM and Ford’s domestic sales rose 8% year-over-year in the third quarter, while Stellantis’ sales picked up 6%, the companies said.
Read the full article here.
Alaska Air IT Outage Grounds Flights for Several Hours
October 24, 2025 12:57 PM EDT
Shares of Alaska Air Group (ALK) flew lower Friday after the airline turned in quarterly profits that were less than expected and reported an IT outage that forced a system-wide ground stop of all flights of its namesake carrier and Horizon Air.
The company said the IT issues began at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) yesterday, and announced the ground stop—meaning certain flights weren’t permitted to take off—at 10 p.m. ET. It noted that operations had been restored by 3:15 a.m. today.
Alaska Air said the outage was caused by a failure at its primary data center, and “impacted several of our key systems that enable us to run various operations, necessitating the implementation of the ground stop to keep our aircraft in position.” The company said it was not a cybersecurity event and safety of its flights was not compromised.
Kevin Carter / Getty Images
It was the second IT outage in three months to cause a ground stop for the airline. In July, a problem at its data centers led to more than 200 flight cancellations.
Alaska Air Group also reported third-quarter results, posting adjusted earnings per share of $1.05, short of forecasts. Revenue of $3.77 billion was basically in line with estimates. The company said that costs were higher than expected in part because of the expenses from July’s IT incident.
Alaska Air Group shares were down more than 4% in recent trading. They have lost about 30% of their value year-to-date.
Watch These Intel Stock Price Levels After Chipmaker’s Earnings Blow Past Expectations
October 24, 2025 12:34 PM EDT
Intel (INTC) shares were slightly higher following an earlier surge after the chipmaker swung to a profit that sailed past Wall Street expectations, signaling its closely watched turnaround plan is gaining traction.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took the helm in March and has refocused the company’s strategic direction, said the third-quarter results show Intel’s “steady progress” in its turnaround, adding that demand for AI has created “attractive opportunities” across its portfolio.
The stock was up 0.3% at $38.30 in recent trading, after surging above $41 early in the session to its highest level since April 2024. Coming into today’s session, the stock had risen 90% so far this year, with the lion’s share of those gains coming in recent months as investors cheered multi-billion dollar investments from Nvidia (NVDA) and SoftBank (SFTBY), as well as the U.S. government’s 10% stake in the chipmaker.
Intel shares have consolidated in a rectangle formation throughout most of October, setting the stage for a continuation of the stock’s recent uptrend.
The trend for the stock has remained bullish since it broke out from a multi-month trading range in September, shortly after the 50-day moving average (MA) crossed above the 200-day MA to form a golden cross, a chart pattern that signals a sustained upward trend.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
What’s the Inflation Rate in October? We May Never Know
October 24, 2025 11:45 AM EDT
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is likely to skip a month of data collection for the Consumer Price Index for the first time in its history because of the ongoing government shutdown.
The Consumer Price Index, a widely watched gauge of inflation, is unlikely to be released for October, the White House said on Friday. The CPI is based on prices collected by an army of surveyors, who are currently on furlough and not working because of the government shutdown.
“Because surveyors cannot deploy to the field, the White House has learned there will likely NOT be an inflation release next month for the first time in history—depriving policymakers and markets of critical data and risking economic calamity,” the White House said in a statement.
Kyle Grillot / Bloomberg via Getty Images
If October’s data collection is skipped, it would create a remarkable gap in a dataset that spans more than a century. The BLS first published data for a national Consumer Price Index in 1921, including estimates for the national inflation rate dating back to 1913.
The CPI report is one of many pieces of economic data going unreported as the government’s statistical agencies remain closed. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have voted down one another’s bills to fund the government amid a dispute over health care policy. The White House statement deepened concerns among economists that the government will have to skip many of the monthly economic reports scheduled for release in October.
Read the full article here.
Deckers Stock Slumps as Hoka Maker Warns of Consumer Pullback Because of Tariffs, Higher Prices
October 24, 2025 11:30 AM EDT
Deckers Outdoor (DECK) shares plunged Friday after the shoe and apparel maker gave a weaker-than-expected outlook, saying it sees a pullback from consumers because of tariffs and rising prices.
The stock was down nearly 14% in recent trading. It’s lost more than half its value since the year began.
The company behind the Ugg and Hoka brands said it now anticipates full-year sales of about $5.35 billion, below the consensus of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
CEO Stefano Caroti told investors during the company’s earnings call, “we are anticipating a more cautious consumer as the full impact of tariffs and price increases will be felt here in the U.S.,” according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense. CFO Steven Fasching said the headwinds from tariffs may be partially offset by the company’s mitigation strategies, which could include promotions to entice shoppers.
The downbeat outlook offset strong quarterly results. Deckers posted earnings per share of $1.82 for its fiscal second quarter on revenue that rose 9.1% year-over-year to $1.43 billion. Both figures topped analysts’ estimates, driven by strong sales of the company’s Ugg and Hoka brands.
Ugg sales surged 10.1% to $759.6 million, and Hoka sales grew 11.1% to $634.1 million. However, sales of other brands dropped 26.5% to $57.2 million.
Ford Stock Soars as Strong Results Outweigh Outlook Cut
October 24, 2025 10:58 AM EDT
Investors were so thrilled by Ford Motor’s third-quarter results that they overlooked a guidance cut.
Ford (F) shares soared roughly 10% to pace the S&P 500 Friday morning after the “Big Three” automaker reported adjusted earnings of $0.45 per share on revenue that surged 9% year-over-year to $50.53 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected $0.34 and $46.33 billion, respectively.
However, Ford said it expects a full-year “adjusted EBIT headwind of $1.5 billion to $2 billion and an adjusted free cash flow headwind of about $2 billion to $3 billion in the fourth quarter due to the Novelis fire,” which shut down an aluminum supplier’s plant in Oswego, N.Y.
Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Because of the fire, Ford cuts its 2025 adjusted EBIT outlook to a range of $6 billion to $6.5 billion from the prior $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion, and adjusted free cash flow of $2 billion to $3 billion from the previous $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion.
“We are working intensively with Novelis and others to source aluminum that can be processed in the cold rolling section of the plant that remains operational while also working to restore overall plant production,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said. “We have made substantial progress in a short time to minimize the impact in 2025 and recover production in 2026.”
Ford shares have risen 37% this year.
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Lower-Than-Expected Inflation Keeps Fed on Track for October Rate Cut
October 24, 2025 09:46 AM EDT
It would have taken a surprising surge of inflation in September to deter the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates in October—and that didn’t happen.
The Consumer Price Index rose 3% over the year in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. While that was the highest annual inflation rate since January, it was below forecasters’ expectations for a 3.1% uptick.
Moreover for the Fed, “core” inflation, which excludes volatile prices for food and energy, rose 3%, down from 3.1% in August and also below expectations. Fed policymakers watch “core” inflation measures closely because they can be better indicators of the trajectory of prices. Food and energy prices can rise and fall significantly for reasons that have nothing to do with broad inflation trends.
The report solidified expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its benchmark interest rate next week when the Fed’s policy committee is scheduled to meet. Fed officials cut the fed funds rate by a quarter-point in September to boost the faltering job market. The Fed had held rates high to counteract inflation, but concerns about prices have taken a back seat to worries about a hiring slowdown in recent months.
Even before Friday’s report, the Fed was widely expected to go ahead with a rate cut. Fed officials had penciled in two rate cuts at their remaining two meetings this year, as noted in their quarterly monetary policy projections last month.
Financial markets are pricing near certainty the Fed will cut the fed funds rate to a range of 3.5% to 3.75% by the end of the year, a half a percentage point below its current level, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, which forecasts rate movements based on fed funds futures trading data.
Read the full article here.
2026 COLA Boost for Social Security Revealed—What Retirees Should Know
October 24, 2025 09:35 AM EDT
While Social Security beneficiaries will see larger paychecks next year, the annual cost-of-living adjustment for 2026 may not be enough to keep up with older Americans’ growing expenses.
The Social Security Administration announced on Friday morning that the 2026 cost-of-living adjustment for benefits will be 2.8%. The adjustment, also known as COLA, is calculated every year based on inflation in the third quarter. The increased benefits will be reflected in checks starting in January.
This year’s announcement was delayed after the government shutdown stopped a key inflation report from being released on time.
DNY59 / Getty Images
The 2026 COLA is higher than the 2.5% adjustment for 2025; however, it may not be sufficient to keep pace with the rising expenses of many retired beneficiaries.
The Social Security COLA is calculated using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the third quarter of each year. That means the COLA utilizes inflation rates from July, August, and September.
However, since the formula uses past data and is not predictive, experts argue it does not accurately cover increases in Social Security beneficiaries’ expenses. In addition, as the majority of beneficiaries are older Americans, some have argued that the SSA should use inflation reports specifically for senior expenses.
Read the full article here.
Inflation Stayed High in September
October 24, 2025 08:58 AM EDT
Inflation stayed stubbornly high in September, keeping the squeeze on the buying power of household budgets.
The Consumer Price Index rose 3.0% over the year in September, up from a 2.9% annual increase in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. That was the highest 12-month inflation rate since January. “Core” inflation, which excludes volatile prices for food and energy, also rose 3.0% over the year, slightly lower than in August.
The report highlighted the staying power of the inflation surge that started as the economy re-opened from pandemic shutdowns in 2021. Inflation peaked at 40-year highs in 2022 and began to recede after that, as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to discourage borrowing.
Getty Images
Inflation generally fell after that, and had nearly reached the Fed’s goal of a 2% annual rate by early 2025. But the yearly inflation rate has risen every month since April, pushed up at least partly by President Donald Trump’s import taxes, which merchants have largely passed along to consumers.
The CPI report was the only data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics during the ongoing government shutdown, which began Oct. 1 and has no end in sight. The BLS brought back staff to produce the CPI report because it is crucial for determining the annual cost of living adjustments to Social Security benefits.
Procter & Gamble Stock Rises After Better-Than-Expected Results
October 24, 2025 08:01 AM EDT
Investors are responding positively to Procter & Gamble (PG)’s quarterly results and expectation for a reduced tariffs hit this fiscal year.
Shares of the Cincinnati-based consumer goods giant rose about 2.5% before the bell after it reported fiscal 2026 first-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.99 per share on sales that increased 3% year-over-year to $22.39 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had estimated $1.89 and $22.15 billion, respectively.
P&G now expects “higher costs from tariffs of approximately $400 million after tax for fiscal 2026,” the company said. It previously had guided for “approximately $800 million after-tax, in higher costs from tariffs.”
P&G shares entered Friday down about 9% this year.
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Stock Futures Rise Ahead of Inflation Data
October 24, 2025 07:17 AM EDT
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1%.
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S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%.
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Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.5%.
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