Market Awaits CPI Report Due Friday

Pre-markets are flat a half-hour prior to the opening bell today. Major market indexes rebounded into the green over the past month in what has so far been a fairly turbulent October, and are back to all-time highs. The Dow and the S&P 500 are both up +2 points at this hour, the Nasdaq is at 0.0. The small-cap Russell 2000, which has outperformed the field over the past two trading days, is -3 points.

We’ll get a new Consumer Price Index (CPI) this week, but not until Friday. The government shutdown has now gone on three weeks, and we’ve been devoid federal government economic data since the first of the month. What’s important about this week is the cornucopia of earnings reports:

Q3 Earnings Ahead of the Open: GE, GM, LMT, KO, MMM

GE Aerospace GE beat consensus estimates on earnings by 20 cents: $1.66 per share versus $1.46, for a +13.7% surprise. Revenues came in at $11.3 billion, +9.4% above expectations. Shares are up again on the news, by +2.75% — adding to its extraordinary performance so far in 2025, +81.5%.

General Motors GM sees its shares +11% in early trading on big beats in its Q3 report this morning. Earnings of $2.80 per share outperformed the Zacks consensus by +22.8%, on a +9.76% revenue beat to $48.59 billion — the strongest quarter since 2017. Business in China was good, as we’ve heard elsewhere so far this earnings season.

Lockheed Martin LMT shares are flat on its Q3 beat this morning: earnings of $6.95 per share outpaced the $6.33 estimate by +9.8%. Guidance had been revised lower earlier in the quarter. Revenues of $18.61 billion was ahead of projections by +0.28%. Shares continue to underperform the broader indexes year to date.

Coca-Cola KO is up +2.86% this pre-market, with a 4-cents earnings beat to 82 cents per share. Revenues of $12.41 billion surpassed expectations by +10%. The company has so far been able to pass along price increases to its customers.

3M MMM beat and raised this morning in its Q3 report. Earnings of $2.19 per share beat the Zacks consensus of $2.10 by +4.3%. Revenues of $6.34 billion were ahead of the $6.25 billion estimated. Full-year earnings guidance has pulled up beyond current consensus, to $7.95-8.05 per share.

What to Expect from the Stock Market Today

Among those companies posting earnings after today’s close is Netflix NFLX — the first of the so-called “Mag 7” stocks to report this quarter. Expectations are for solid growth numbers on both top and bottom lines: +27.6% on earnings per share and +17.3% on revenues. The company has beaten its earnings estimates in all of the past four quarters by an average +6.4%. Shares are flat now, but +39% year to date.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research