Stock Market Live October 31: S&P 500 (VOO) Not Spooked by Earnings, Rises on Halloween
Quick Read
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S&P 500 components and Magnificent 7 stocks Apple and Amazon both beat earnings forecasts last night.
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Netflix has announced a 10-for-1 stock split.
Live Updates
Colgate Got Squeezed
S&P 500 component company and consumer goods company Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) | CL Price Prediction beat earnings by two cents this morning, reporting $0.91 per share in earnings on sales of $5.13 billion — matching analyst revenue forecasts to the penny.
Turning to guidance, Colgate said full-year sales will probably be up low single digits this year despite the negative impact of foreign exchange rates. Organic sales growth, however, will be only half what was previously forecast — 1% to 2% — and investors aren’t too happy to hear that.
Whereas the Voo is currently up 0.3%, Colgate stock is down 0.4%.
Rate Cut Hopes Dim
Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced a 0.25% interest rate cut Wednesday, but with one more FOMC meeting on the agenda this year, he also warned that another cut in December is “not a foregone conclusion” and the Committee members hold “strongly differing views on how to proceed.”
Forecasts by economists show the chance of a December cut currently hovers just above 50-50, but getting at least one cut over the next two meetings seems a virtual certainty.
The Voo is now up 0.6%.
Dominion Gets Bigger
Energy utility and S&P 500 component company Dominion Energy (NYSE: D) beat by the proverbial penny this morning, reporting a $1.06 per share Q3 profit. Dominion missed on sales, however, reporting quarterly revenue of $4.5 billion, less than the nearly $4.7 billion that Wall Street forecast.
On guidance, Dominion predicted full-year 2025 earnings will range from $3.33 to $3.48, roughly in line with consensus forecasts for $3.40.
Dominion stock is up 0.5% this morning, and so is the Voo.
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
Two of the biggest “Magnificent 7” stocks reported earnings last night, and the numbers were anything but scary. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) is up 0.8% premarket.
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) reported $1.85 per share in profit on sales of $102.5 billion for its fourth and final quarter of fiscal 2025. The S&P 500 component company beat analyst forecasts by eight cents, and revenue ran about $220 million past forecasts. The company boasts that iPhone revenue of $49 billion was its best ever for a September quarter, while Services revenue of $28.8 billion was quite simply the best Apple had recorded… ever.
Management then went on to forecast 10% to 12% revenue growth in Q1 of fiscal 2026, implying sales should exceed $131 billion, and perhaps reach $134 billion.
Apple stock is up more than 2% premarket.
Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) was the other big story last night, and arguably even bigger than Apple. This S&P 500 component, too, beat earnings forecasts, earning $1.95 per share for its fiscal third quarter 2025 (analysts only expected $1.56), with sales of $180.2 billion (analysts expected only $177.8 billion).
CEO Andy Jassy summarized the quarter saying: “We continue to see strong momentum and growth across Amazon as AI drives meaningful improvements in every corner of our business.” He then proceeded to guide investors to expect an even bigger Q4, with sales between $206 billion and $213 billion, growing a similar-to-Apple 10% to 13%.
Rounding out the big tech stocks reporting positive news, Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) isn’t a “Magnificent 7” stock, but it is an important S&P 500 component. And Netflix announced last night that it plans to split its stock 10-for-1.
Netflix shares currently cost more than $1,100 each, so the split one transform each existing share into 10 shares worth more than $110 apiece. Perhaps even more than that, seeing as Netflix stock is rising on the news — up nearly 2% premarket.
Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.
He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.
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