Markets Strengthen Ahead of Friday CPI Report

Thursday, October 23, 2025

Market indexes put in a solid day today, fighting off pre-market lows and extending gains in the afternoon hours, despite rounding off session highs by the closing bell. The Dow added +144 points, +0.31%, while the S&P 500 was +39, +0.58%. The Nasdaq grew +201 points, +0.89% while the small-cap Russell 2000 recaptured the trading day: +29 points, or +1.22%.
 

Existing Home Sales In-Line with Expectations

After the open this morning, the National Association of Realtors released September Existing Home Sales, which came precisely in-line with estimates, to 4.06 million seasonally adjusted, annualized units. This is the highest print in seven months, but still below 4.1 million, where we’ve been since that February high.

Sales of single-family homes increased +1.7% for the month, with inventories climbing +1.3% and supply rising a bit to 4.6 months. Growth was led by the West, +5.5%, followed by the Northeast at +2.1% and South +1.6%. Only the Midwest came in negative, -2.1%. Overall, an in-line report on mortgage rates that have come down a little but not extravagantly.
 

Q3 Earnings After the Close: INTC, NEM, F & More

Intel INTC missed estimates on its Q3 bottom line, to -$0.23 per share from expectations of -$0.01. Still, it cut in half the year-ago -$0.46 cents per share. Revenues outpaced the Zacks consensus: $13.7 billion versus $13.1 billion anticipated. Guidance for Q4 was basically in-line with estimates. Shares gained another +5.5% in late trading on the news.

Ford F blew away expectations on both top and bottom lines in its Q3 report this afternoon. Earnings of 45 cents per share was nicely ahead of the 38 cents projected (though still lower than the 49 cents per share posted in the year-ago quarter). Record-high revenues of $50.5 billion easily surpassed the $42.7 billion in the Zacks consensus.

Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-rated Newmont Mining NEM surged past estimates with earnings of $1.71 per share versus $1.29 per share analysts were looking for. The world’s largest gold miner produced 1.4 million ounces of gold in the quarter. The company guided for higher expenses in the next quarter, and shares are down -2.3% in late trading. 

Deckers Outdoor DECK also posted stronger-than-expected in its fiscal Q2 report this afternoon, with earnings coming in at $1.82 per share from $1.58 in the Zacks consensus. Revenues of $1.43 billion outpaced the $1.41 estimate. Guidance, however, disappointed on the top line, sending shares in the late session down -10%.
 

CPI Data Comes Out Friday Morning

Lo and behold, we get some government data Friday morning. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September hits the tape ahead of the opening bell tomorrow. (Social Security benefits determine cost-of-living increases from CPI in the month of September, so this is a special case.) Expectations are for inflation to continue to creep into the economy.

From April 2025 to August, we saw the CPI year-over-year Inflation Rate rise from +2.3% to +2.9%. September’s estimate is for this to ramp up to +3.1% — above 3% for the first time since May of 2024. This is obviously sending inflation in the wrong direction, and will eventually cause the Fed to think hard over future interest rate cuts — the next of which is scheduled to occur next Wednesday.


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