Dow and small caps lead as health care and defensives rally
Market & SentimentBreadth was strong, with 406 advancers against 101 decliners and 30 new highs versus a single low, while the temperature score of 72 points to a warm tape. The Dow rose 1.05% and the Russell 2000 1.66%, but the Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.1% as tech lagged. Only 51.2% of stocks sit above their 50-day average, so the rally is broad today but not yet broad-based.
Sectors & StocksHealth care led at +2.34%, helped by Moderna's 6.7% gain ahead of melanoma vaccine data and Bristol Myers Squibb's 4.8% rise. Real estate added 1.69% and financials 1.13%. Communication services fell 0.95% and tech 0.29%, with Lam Research down 3.2% before its report. General Motors dropped 6.8% after narrowing full-year EPS guidance despite a beat; GE Aerospace fell 3.7% after raising guidance.
Rates, FX & CryptoThe long end rallied, with the 30-year yield down 6bp to 5.42% and the 10-year down 3bp to 5.12%, while the 2-year added 2bp to 4.79%, leaving the 2s10s spread at 33bp. The dollar was little changed: USD/CNY slipped 0.04% and EUR/USD 0.09%. Bitcoin rose 1.27% to about $82,886 and ether 1.68%, even as JPMorgan published long-horizon bitcoin scenarios.
Earnings & AnnouncementsNorthrop Grumman rose 4.6% on a record $110B backlog and raised guidance; FinDog moved it from Neutral to Bullish. 3M gained 5.8% on an adjusted EPS beat and higher outlook, but FinDog moved it from Bullish to Neutral, as it did Equifax and Genuine Parts after their reports. FinDog moved GM from Neutral to Bullish despite the stock's slide, and Hubbell from Neutral to Bullish. Boeing won FAA approval for the 737 Max 10.
- IBM, Lam Research, Southwest and Las Vegas Sands report after the close
- Abbott, Danaher and Elevance Health report before the open
- Baker Hughes and Kinder Morgan results for energy read-through
- Certification of the largest 737 Max variant, delayed for years by safety scrutiny, clears the way for deliveries and gives Boeing a new widebody-adjacent revenue stream.
- United lowered its full-year profit outlook as fuel prices climbed, though bookings held up despite higher fares, a sign carriers can pass on some costs without losing demand.
- Single-family starts and building permits fell sharply, pointing to softer residential construction that weighs on housing-linked demand and supports the case for lower long-end yields.Reuters10-20 12:40 UTC
- GE Aerospace lifted its 2026 profit outlook on services strength, though the stock fell after the beat, suggesting expectations were already high.
- Late-stage data showed CagriSema delivered about 25% weight loss in women, strengthening Novo's next-generation obesity pipeline and intensifying competition in GLP-1 drugs.
- A 30% drop in a Korean data-center listing pressured neocloud and AI infrastructure names, extending last week's weakness in the sector.
- Anthropic is negotiating another multibillion-dollar data-center deal with Nscale, adding to AI compute spending that benefits chip and infrastructure suppliers.
- Beijing said Washington's ban on DeepSeek disregards the Xi-Trump consensus, a fresh friction point in US-China tech policy that could affect chip and AI sentiment.Reuters10-20 20:02 UTC
- Energy officials are pressing refiners to produce more diesel as prices surge, a supply-side response that could ease fuel costs but pressures refining margins.
- The FTC sent civil subpoenas to OpenAI and Anthropic in a consumer-protection probe, adding regulatory scrutiny to the AI platforms underpinning Microsoft, Amazon and Google cloud businesses.
Stories are selected and summarized by AI from the day's news coverage. Click a headline to read the original. Not investment advice.