​​​​​​​US Open: quarterly earnings and upcoming monetary easing support equities 🖋️

The U.S. stock market opened on a mixed note this morning, with investor focus on quarterly earnings and central bank commentary. At the time of publication, the US500 is up +0.20%, the US100 gains +0.50%, while the US2000 is down -0.56%.

Yesterday’s session ended with modest gains, as better-than-expected corporate results supported demand. Investor sentiment also improved following signs of better U.S.–China relations. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that President Trump plans to meet with Xi Jinping and spoke constructively about the ongoing talks, easing concerns over broad tariffs.
Markets now focus on numerous Fed speakers and the upcoming Federal Reserve balance sheet report. On the other hand, political uncertainty continues to drive safe-haven flows into gold, though without triggering panic in equities. The U.S. government shutdown has now entered its third week.

US500

The flagship index of U.S. companies has recovered nearly all of last Friday’s losses, which were caused by trade-war escalation fears following Trump’s social media post. Today, the US500 is up 0.25% to 6,730 points.

Corporate news

• Praxis Precision Medicines (PRAX.US) gain +230% after its Phase 3 Essential3 trial for ulixacaltamide in essential tremor met key endpoints, showing strong functional improvement. A new drug application to the FDA is planned for early 2026.
• J.B. Hunt (JBHT.US) is upt +17% after Q3 beat expectations with EPS of $1.76 vs. $1.46 est. and revenue of $3.05B. Profit rose 18% on strong dedicated services, cost efficiencies, and operational gains.
• GRAIL (GRAL.US) gains +12% after Samsung agreed to invest $110M and partner to expand GRAIL’s Galleri cancer detection test in Asia, starting in South Korea with potential rollout to Japan and Singapore.
• Fossil (FOSL.US) dips 30% after extending the deadline for its 7% senior notes exchange offer to Oct. 22, the second delay amid ongoing debt restructuring.
• Veritone (VERI) declines +20%  on dilution concerns after announcing a $75M direct offering (12.86M shares at $5.83 each) to fund working capital and debt repayment.