Morning Preview: October 07, 2026

Early Look

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Another day, another record for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite on Tuesday as strength in technology (XLK) continues to pave the way for strong market results, but stock index futures were lower on Wednesday as Treasury yields resume their upward march and traders looked forward to the release of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes later in the day. The S&P 500 registered its 28^th record closing high of the year its first record closing since August 13^th, while the Nasdaq posted its 24^th record closing high of the year. The blue-chip Dow remains about 5% below its August 5 record closing high. Futures are lower as the 10-year Treasury yield jumps +6 bps to 5.32%, on track for its highest close since April 2002, while the 30-year rose +6 bps to 5.70%, its highest since May 2002. The move comes as investors await the $39 billion 10-year Treasury auction and Fed minutes. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -648 points to 70,035, the Shanghai Index remained closed for Golden Week holiday and the Hang Seng Index fell -150 points to 24,130. In Europe, the German DAX is down -320 points to 25,129, while the FTSE 100 slides -66 points to 10,475. A fairly light day of economic data with no major movers outside of a $39B 10-year Treasury auction later in the afternoon, while earnings seasons gets underway next week. The S&P 500, while making new highs, has been stuck in a relatively tight trading range for the last month, pressured by stubbornly high Treasury yields and energy prices, but boosted by AI stocks.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 253.38 points, or 0.49%, to 51,521.28
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 122.48 points, or 0.45%, to 27,599.79
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -16.84 points, or 0.59% to 2,830.30

• 10:30 AM ET                Weekly DOE Inventory Data
• 1:00 PM ET US Treasury to sell $39B in 10-year notes
• 3:00 PM ET                   Consumer Credit for August

• Earnings After the Close: APLD LEVI RELL RGP

• UK house prices were unchanged year-on-year in September 2026, following a 0.4% decline in August.
• France’s trade deficit narrows to €6.1B in August as imports fall faster than exports.

• Honda (HMC) delays next-gen CR-V hybrid production several months in US, Canada; Overhauled SUV model’s mass production pushed back to at least April 2027.

• Shell (SHEL) said that Q3 upstream exploration well write-offs are expected to total about $300M, while upstream production is forecast at 1.735 million to 1.835 million barrels of oil equivalent a day; said Q3 integrated gas production was expected to be about 74k-780K barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared with a previously expected range of 570K-630K.
• Sigma Lithium (SGML) resumes operations after court upholds environmental licenses, reaffirms 330,000t 2027 production target. Federal appeals court ruling enables full resumption of mining-industrial operations.
• TechnipFMC (FTI) awarded flexibles contract by Petrobras (PBR) in deal contract valued between $75M and $250M included in Q3 2026 inbound orders; awarded significant subsea contract by Petrobras for flexible pipe systems offshore Brazil.
• Worthington Steel (WS) Q1 adj. EPS $0.57 vs. est. $0.92; sales $2.73B vs. est. $3.14B; adj. EBIT $78.5Mm; operating Income $56.0Mm.
• ZIM Integrated Shipping (ZIM) raised its guidance for the year reflecting continued strong market demand and favorable momentum in freight rates; now expects to generate Adjusted EBITDA of between $2.7B-$3.0B vs, prior view $2.0B-$2.4B and adj EBIT of $1.4B-$1.7B vs. prior $700M-$1.1B.

• Byline Bancorp, Inc. (BY) and Illinois State Bancorp, Inc. announce definitive merger agreement in a deal valued at $87.90M in cash and stock; Byline to pay $5.10M cash for outstanding stock options settlement and to issue 1.4M shares and $28.90M cash to Illinois State Bancorp shareholders.
• Figure Technology Solutions (FIGR) said September Consumer Loan Marketplace Volume reached $5.119B in Q3 2026, landing at the high end of the company’s previously issued guidance range of $4.8B to $5.2B. Volume surged 107% Y/Y (up from $2.469B in Q3 2025) and 20% Q/Q (up from $4.259B in Q2 2026). For September alone, volume reached $1.783B, up 9% M/M and 104% Y/Y.

• Caribou Biosciences (CRBU) shares tumble as announces strategic alternatives review, discontinues Vispa-Cel and CB-011 CAR-T Programs, cuts workforce; had $113.8M cash at June 30; was unable to line up investor financing to pay for Ph3 studies of its allo Car-T cancer programs.
• Humana (HUM) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Cantor Fitzgerald.
• Neogen Corp. (NEOG) Q1 adj. EPS $0.08 vs. est. ($0.07); revenue $222.8Mm vs. est. $208.2Mm; adj. EBITDA $41.6Mm vs est $36.67Mm; adj. EBITDA margin 18.7%; FY revenue guidance $885Mm-$890Mm vs. est. $883.2Mm; FY adj. EBITDA guidance $181Mm-$183Mm vs. est. $179.2Mm

• Microsoft (MSFT) will unveil on Wednesday a new laptop powered by Nvidia’s (NVDA) chips, seeking to turn Windows into a platform for AI agents to handle tasks such as writing code without having to access the cloud, analysts said, per Reuters.
• NetApp (NTAP) upgraded to Outperform from In Line at Evercore ISI and raised tgt to $300 from $210 saying guidance for about 17% growth appears conservative given it implies a steep second half deceleration to 9%.
• Penguin Solutions (PENG) Q4 EPS $1.00 vs. consensus $0.77 and sales $566.7M vs. est. $521M; Q4 adj operating income $89.8M vs. est. $69M; guides FY adj EPS $4.45 vs. est. $3.39; appoints Stephen Cumming as Senior Vice Pres and Chief Financial Officer to support accelerated growth.