US Open: indexes start the session with modest gains 🔎

The final trading session of the week brings moderately positive sentiment to the U.S. equity market. At the time of publication, the US500 and US100 are both up +0.25%, while the US2000 adds +0.13%.

The U.S. government shutdown continues into its second week. Bulls are attempting to recover from yesterday’s pullback, which followed the Senate’s failure to pass government funding bills, renewed concerns about an AI bubble driven by inter-company deals, and a low-impact appearance by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. As the prolonged budget impasse still prevents the release of official government data, investors are paying greater attention to reports from private institutions.

Today’s University of Michigan sentiment survey came in line with expectations, though it holds limited relevance for Fed policy. Later in the session, markets will hear from Fed officials Austan Goolsbee and Alberto Musalem.

Earnings season

Earnings results have been a bright spot — all four S&P 500 companies reporting this week beat forecasts on both EPS and revenue. Standouts included:

• Constellation Brands – better-than-expected fiscal Q2 results despite softer beer sales.
• McCormick – consumer sales up 4% YoY, though margins remain under pressure.
• PepsiCo – earnings beat estimates; revenue rose 2.7% with mixed performance across segments.
• Delta Air Lines – Q3 results topped expectations with strong guidance for Q4.

Next week

The pace of corporate reports will accelerate significantly. Fastenal will kick off Monday’s releases, followed Tuesday by a wave of major banks: JPMorgan, Johnson & Johnson*, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and Citigroup.
On Wednesday, results will come from Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Abbott; on Thursday from Charles Schwab, BNY Mellon, and U.S. Bancorp; and the week will conclude Friday with American Express.

US500

The index is up 0.25%, holding within a narrow consolidation range near historic highs. The 6,800-point area currently serves as key resistance for the bulls.

Company news

• Applied Digital (APLD.US) jumped +30% on FQ1 revenue up 84% Y/Y and a new 150 MW lease at Polaris Forge 1, taking the full 400 MW with CoreWeave under contract (~$11B prospective revenue over 15 years).
• Elastic (ESTC.US) gains 6.80% after lifting Q2 FY26 revenue outlook to $417M–$419M and FY to $1.69B–$1.70B, plus a new $500M buyback.
• UiPath (PATH.US) gains 2.00% extending yesterday momentum around agentic AI and integrations with Nvidia (Nemotron/NIM), OpenAI (ChatGPT connector), Snowflake, and Google.
• Levi Strauss (LEVI.US) dips 10% despite a beat and raised FY outlook, as investors focused on macro complexity and higher import tariffs; now guiding FY25 EPS $1.27–$1.32 and ~6% organic revenue growth.