Pre-Markets Up on Cooling Metrics, Decent Q3 Reports

Wednesday, October 21st, 2026

We take a break from economic reports this morning, a week and a half from the end of October trading this year. The next major inflation report comes a week from tomorrow, when September PCE hits the tape. Until then, we will happily make do with Q3 earnings reports to inform market sentiment.

Pre-market futures are up at this hour, as the blue-chip Dow enjoys its best trading month since April. Bond yields and spot oil prices remain inflated, but off highs seen a week ago or more. The Dow is currently +239 points, the Nasdaq is +163 points, and the S&P 500 is +25. The small-cap Russell 2000 is +6 points at this hour.

Yesterday after the close, SpaceX SPCX posted a highly impressive quarter, with revenues escalating +161% year over year to $14.58 billion. Earnings more than tripled expectations to $0.45 per share, largely on 9x growth in its AI business. (Recall SpaceX obtained xAI back in February of this year.) Shares are now up +8.2% in today’s pre-market, +18% from its IPO price from this past summer. CEO Elon Musk discussed SpaceX’s buyout of Tesla (TSLA) at yesterday’s conference call.
 

Q3 Earnings at a Glance: NEE, ABT, CME

NextEra Energy NEE posted a 4-cent beat on its bottom line to $1.24 per share this morning, surpassing the $1.13 per share reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $8.09 billion, however, was -11% below the Zacks consensus, and up slightly from the $7.97 billion the company brought in during the year-ago quarter. Shares are up +0.9% on the news this hour, but still down marginally year to date. For more on NEE’s earnings, click here.

Abbott Labs ABT was also mixed in its Q3 report this morning, but in reverse: earnings of $1.42 per share missed estimates by a penny while revenues of $13.01 billion narrowly outperformed expectations by +0.30%. Questions regarding the spinoff of its Nutrition business are helping lead shares down -3.36% at this hour, deepening the -18.2% hole the stock is in since the start of the year. For more on ABT’s earnings, click here.

CME Group CME outpaced estimates on both top and bottom lines in its Q3 results ahead of today’s open. Earnings of $3.02 per share surpassed the $2.98 in the Zacks consensus, while revenues of $1.74 billion beat projections by +1.43%. The Chicago-based derivatives market has underperformed the S&P 500 year to date — +8.1% versus +12.7% — and shares are basically flat ahead of the bell. For more on CME's earnings, click here. 
 

What to Expect from the Stock Market Today: Mag 7 Earnings Late

We won’t see any economic reports during the regular trading today either, but after the closing bell, we expect plenty fireworks when Mag 7 companies begin to release earnings results for the quarter:

Meta Platforms META, based on its extensive AI buildout during the course of this year, is expected to post negative earnings growth of -52.4% this afternoon, on impressive +23.68% revenue growth from a year ago. The social media and communications staple looks to bounce back from its Q2 miss, and add to its +5% gains year to date.

Tesla TSLA carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) into its Q3 report after today’s close, with -10% earnings growth expected on -1.12% gains in revenue year over year. It, too, is looking to bounce back from its Q2 earnings miss, and more discussion regarding SpaceX’s potential takeover. Shares are up +3% ahead of the opening bell, but still down -14.7% year to date.

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