Futures options traders work on the floor of the NYSE American of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, October 22, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stock futures fell slightly Wednesday evening as investors digested the quarterly earnings release.
Futures contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 87 points, or almost 0.2%. S&P Futures And Nasdaq 100 Futures were both around the flat line.
Many third quarter results were released after the market close, including Tesla, IBM, Modern And Lam Search. Tesla, which launched the mega-cap technology group’s “Magnificent Seven” reports, saw its shares fall 3% due to mixed third-quarter results. IBM lost about 6% after the technology company beat Wall Street estimates but reported online software revenue.
Investors continue to monitor earnings releases from America’s largest companies, which many believe could be decisive for the market’s current bull rally. So far, more than three-quarters of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings results that beat earnings expectations.
Trade is also a focus. President Donald Trump said Wednesday evening that his next meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was “scheduled,” allaying some fears about U.S.-China relations that had put pressure on markets on Wednesday.
In the previous session, the S&P 500 fell about 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 334 points, or 0.7%. The heavy on technology Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9% as investors turned away from riskier assets. The drop came after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the White House was considering curbing exports to China made with U.S. software. The plans would build on Trump’s statement nearly two weeks ago that the United States would implement export restrictions by November 1 on “all critical software.”
Chris Grisanti, chief market strategist at MAI Capital Management, advised traders to look away from winners to pocket some gains after the broader market rose this year, and to favor cheaper pockets of markets such as health care.
“I think this is a particularly stressful time in the market…valuations are the second highest in a hundred years,” he told CNBC on Wednesday. “The market looks strong, you have momentum, but we still have these valuations.”
Grisanti added that he sees several similarities between today’s landscape and the dot-com boom of the late 1990s.
“They say history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. I mean, it rhymes pretty closely. … You get meme stocks. You also start to get companies that are priced based on projections for 2030 or 2035,” he said. “These are things we saw in 1998 and 1999, and it’s just scary.”
Inflation data due Friday is expected to provide additional guidance on the health of the economy, particularly ahead of the Federal Reserve’s late October meeting. Markets generally expect central bankers to cut rates by another quarter of a percentage point.
“We do not believe the report will dissuade the FOMC from cutting rates, even without supporting nonfarm payrolls data, as many officials fear that the surprising weakness seen in the August jobs report could signal a sharp deterioration in employment,” Sam Stovall, CFRA’s chief investment strategist, said in a note to clients.
