October 13th Market Overview

Happy Tuesday

Stocks finished flat, but it was a busy flat. Banks, memory chips and pizza all had their say.

Investors are getting picky near record highs, and I’d rather see that than a market that buys everything.

Let's dig in...

Today's Big Picture

1. Banks Grew Profits and Still Got Sold

All four big banks that reported today grew profits, and most of their stocks fell anyway. Citigroup $C had its best third-quarter revenue in a decade and still dropped the most of the four. Jamie Dimon said JPMorgan is tightening up on credit because some loan terms have gotten loose.

2. Memory Chips Take a Hit From China

Chinese memory maker CXMT plans to roll out a new, more powerful chip by year-end. That’s a threat to Samsung and SK hynix, and South Korea’s Kospi closed at its lowest since July 31. Here at home, Micron $MU took the biggest hit among memory stocks. The Nasdaq barely moved, so the selling stayed mostly inside memory.

3. Gas Prices Are Showing Up in Earnings

US same-store sales at Domino’s $DPZ barely grew last quarter, and the CEO pointed at the gas pump. Joe Jordan said customers really start pulling back once gas tops $4. Some franchisees have already paused plans for new stores. Brent crude is still above $105 a barrel, so I expect more companies to tell this story.

Market Overview

Index Performance

Stock Spotlight

Johnson & Johnson $JNJ ( ▼ 5.58% )  
had its biggest drop since April 2025, even after raising its full-year outlook. Medical device sales missed, and executives floated spinning off the hips-and-knees business.

Bumble $BMBL ( ▲ 56.58% )  
agreed to be bought by Ithaca Holdings in a $1.3 billion all-cash deal.

Adobe $ADBE ( ▼ 0.35% )  
got downgraded at HSBC, which cut its target to $267 from $310 over AI-built knockoffs. HSBC points to ArtCraft, a small shop that just released a free clone of Creative Cloud.

Six Flags $FUN ( ▼ 14.85% )  
closed several rides across its parks after a fatal roller coaster accident in Georgia. The stock was headed for its lowest close since 2009.

Big Name Updates

Meta Platforms $META ( ▲ 2.63% )  
rose for a second straight day on its new Muse Wonder AI model. Truist raised its price target to $1,000 from $763.

Apple $AAPL ( ▲ 0.19% )  
unveiled HomeView, a wall or tabletop smart home hub that runs its upgraded Siri. It uses facial recognition to show each person in the house their own information.

UnitedHealth $UNH ( ▼ 0.08% )  
beat estimates and raised its 2026 profit forecast to at least $20.50 a share. The stock gave back its early gains and finished about flat.

Berkshire Hathaway $BRK.B ( ▲ 0.6% )  
is on its longest winning streak since September 2024. Shares are nearing their $539.80 record from May 2025, set the day before Buffett said he’d step down.

Visa $V ( ▲ 1.57% )  
won approval to start preparing a payments business in China.

Other Notable Company News

Albertsons $ACI ( ▲ 1.72% )  
pulled its guidance, but shares rose as new chair Meg Whitman put the whole business under review.

Rivian $RIVN ( ▼ 1.22% )  
CEO RJ Scaringe hired Doug Field, who led Tesla’s Model 3, as president of his robotics startup. Mind Robotics plans to put its first robots in Rivian factories.

BP $BP ( ▲ 3.69% )  
warned of $3 billion to $4.5 billion in write-downs, mostly on its gas and low-carbon businesses. It also cut its debt ahead of schedule.

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Sector Watch

Bond Market

Treasury yields eased ahead of this week’s inflation report. Goldman’s David Solomon said a 10-year near a 24-year high doesn’t bother him, only sudden moves do.

Policy Watch

Fed

The Fed’s proposed capital rules for big banks are lighter than what banks braced for under Biden. Goldman is already putting the freed-up money to work in trading. Its stock trading desk just had its second-best quarter ever.

Fiscal & Trade

President Trump suspended sanctions on Russian diesel ahead of next month’s midterms, and Russia agreed to lift its export ban. So far it isn’t moving prices.

• Diesel futures hit a two-week high Tuesday

• Traders say the volume in the deal is too small to matter much

• Lawmakers in both parties are questioning whether it’s legal

Paul Tudor Jones told CNBC that Washington won’t fix its deficits until the market forces it. He puts 60-40 odds on that starting now and plans to be short stocks all of 2027. Big call from a big name, and a good nudge to know what you own.

International

France’s parliament started debating its 2027 budget with big deficits, rising debt and student protests in the background. ING expects France’s budget problems to keep weighing on the euro into the new year.

What to Watch

The AI company quietly automating every Walmart distribution center. 
23 billion in orders on the book.

It's just one of seven names in this free MarketBeat report.

Bank Earnings, Round Two

Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock report tommorow after close. Morgan Stanley is the one I’m watching, since it runs one of the biggest stock trading desks on Wall Street. It’ll tell us whether Goldman’s trading strength was a Goldman thing or a Street-wide thing.

TSMC and ASML

Both report this week, right after a rough day for memory stocks. TSMC is the read on AI chip orders, and ASML is the read on the machines that make them. If their outlooks hold up, today’s selloff stays a memory story.

Thanks for reading - you are now the more informed 🙂

- John

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