Pre-Markets Down, Housing Remains at Recessionary Levels

Tuesday, October 20th, 2026

Pre-market futures are decidedly down at this hour, sinking into the red ahead of economic and earnings reports out this morning. The Dow is off -91 points currently, the Nasdaq -256 points and the S&P 500 -27. The small-cap Russell 2000 is a less-inflamed -6 points. Oil prices are up on oil tankers continuing to be under fire in the Strait of Hormuz, and WTI is back up to triple digits: $100 per barrel (/bbl). Brent crude, the international spot oil price component, is $110/bbl.
 

Housing Starts & Building Permits Drop in September

The Housing market continues to wallow in recessionary waters, as September Housing Starts came in lower than expected: +1.22 million seasonally adjusted, annualized units is beneath the +1.3 million estimated, for the third-straight month at -5.2%. Single-family homes fell another -4.6% while Multi-family was worse: -6.7%. Mortgage rates climbed around 70 basis points (bps) during the course of September, from +6.8% at the start of the month to +7.5% by the end.

Building Permits, a proxy for future Starts, dipped another -0.2% month over month, -2.1% year over year, to +1.400 million seasonally adjusted, annualized units. This was slightly above expectations for +1.39 million new starts. Single-family was down again, -4%, while Multi-family was up +5.9% on new permits.

Yesterday, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) posted a homebuilder confidence survey that reached its lowest level since June of 2012: 29, below already dismal expectations for 31 (50 is the level where homebuilders begin to express confidence in the market). Mortgage rates were cited as the culprit here, as well. And don’t forget Fannie Mae’s forecast from last week, where it bumped up mortgage rate expectations to +7.5% for the full-year 2027.

After today’s open, Pending Home Sales for September are expected to drop -0.4% from the prior month’s +0.3% gain (which was the first positive month in the past three). This follows last week’s Existing Home Sales numbers, which gained +1.5% on headline.
 

Q3 Earnings at a Glance: GE & GM

GE Aerospace GE reported a strong Q3 this morning, with earnings of $2.25 per share coming in ahead of the Zacks consensus $2.02 by +11.39%, and nicely higher than the $1.66 per share reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $13.29 billion outpaced expectations by +5%. Pre-market trading is lower on this down-day so far, as investors check GE’s high multiple and slight dent in free cashflow. For more on GE’s earnings, click here.

General Motors GM also outperformed Q3 estimates ahead of today’s open, with earnings of $3.70 per share surpassing the $3.55 analysts had been expecting for a +4.23% positive surprise. Revenues of $50.02 billion amounted to a +3.75% beat, but forward earnings guidance coming down at the midpoint for its full year are bringing shares down -6.2% at this hour. For more on GM's earnings, click here.
 

What to Expect from Today’s Stock Market

Aside from the Pending Home Sales report due at 10am ET this morning, Netflix NFLX becomes the first marquee name to post earnings today, after the closing bell. The streaming entertainment giant, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), is expecting +39% earnings growth on +11.8% in revenues for its Q3.

Elsewhere, United Airlines UAL and Intuitive Surgical ISRG re also two bigger names putting up Q3 numbers after today’s trading day. United, a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) today, is expected to post negative -6.47% earnings growth, while Intuitive, a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), is anticipated to earn +8.75% more year over year, +15% on revenues.

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