Morning Preview: October 08, 2026

Early Look

Thursday, October 8, 2026

Its ground hogs day! Stock index futures are lower as prospects for a peace agreement between Iran and the United States appeared difficult after President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran was “not really something” he wants. Oil prices are jumping over 5% as Brent tops $105 and WTI crude to $92.75 per barrel. Also, after pulling back on Wednesday, Treasury yields resume their upward momentum as the 10-year again approaches 5.35%, its highest levels since 2002 on rising inflation fears. U.S. stocks ended lower on Wednesday, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Comp both pulled back off all-time highs reached Tuesday and the S&P 500 and Dow both snapped 5 day winning streaks as higher Treasury yields impacting borrowing costs and lending remain a problem for investor sentiment. Initial jobless claims, the 30-year Treasury bond auction, and the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet will be on the economic calendar today. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index tumbled -993 points to 69,042, the Shanghai Index reopened after its Golden Week holiday, falling -30 points to 3,811, and the Hang Seng Index dropped -344 points to 23,785. In Europe, the German DAX is down around -300 points to 24,807, while the FTSE 100 falls -63 points to 10,394.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -341.41 points, or 0.66%, to 51,179.87
• The Nasdaq Composite slipped -61.20 points, or 0.22%, to 27,538.69
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -40.50 points, or 1.34% to 2,992.44

• 8:30 AM ET                  Continuing Claims…est. 1.708M
• 10:00 AM ET                Wholesale Inventory M/M for August…est. +0.7%
• 10:30 AM ET                Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventory Data
• 1:00 PM ET US Treasury to sell $22B in 30-yr notes

• Earnings After the Close: ODC

• The bull-bear spread in the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) weekly survey was +1.3% vs -11.9% last week. Bulls rose to 40.3% to from 34.6%, Neutrals rose to 20.8% from 18.9%, Bears fell to 39% from 46.5%.

• Costco (COST) reports September net sales of $30.02B, up 13.0% for five weeks ended Oct 4, 2026; comparable sales up 11.4% for five weeks ended Oct 4, 2026.
• Levi Strauss (LEVI) Q3 adj EPS $0.48 vs. est. $0.36; Q3 revs $1.61B vs. est. $1.62B up 5% organically y/y; Q3 gross margins rose to 66.2% from 61.7% and operating margin widened to 13.8% from 10.8%; said impact of tariff refunds contributed $0.16 of EPS benefit in qtr; said international and wholesale were strong, while DTC missed internal expectations; raises FY26 EPS view to $1.54-$1.56 from $1.46-$1.52, while cuts FY26 reported net revenue growth view to roughly 7% from 7%-7.5%.
• Lululemon Athletics’ (LULU) new CEO is shaking up management as the retailer Struggles with slumping sales and a stock price that is down more than 50% this year. In one of her first major moves since becoming CEO last month, Heidi O’Neill ousted two executives, created two new positions and hired former Nike and Walmart executives to fill them, WSJ reported.
• Richardson Electronics (RELL) Q1 sales rose 19% y/y to $64.92M vs. est. $59M, net income more than doubled to $4.06M, lifting EPS to $0.27 vs. est. $0.09; Q1 gross margin widened 3.6% points to 34.6%, operating income jumped to $5.12M; Q1 backlog rose 37% y/y to $184.4M, with an increase in PMT.

• ExxonMobil (XOM) is seeking to build on its Guyana success with exploration offshore Trinidad and Tobago, its global exploration chief told the Financial Times. Exxon secured a production-sharing agreement within seven months and arranged seismic work in six months.
• Ryder (R) was upgraded to Buy on attractive valuation given pullback at Citigroup saying they see incremental strength in Used Vehicle Sales and anticipate the company to raise its ’26 UVS guide again; also sees incremental strength in Rental and the contractual Lease and Dedicated businesses.
• UPS (UPS) mistakenly routed sensitive Lockheed Martin (LMT) F-35 components through Hong Kong after an employee missed a warning that the shipment was subject to U.S. arms-export restrictions, Bloomberg News reported.

• Resource Connection (RGP) Q1 adj EPS loss (-$0.16) vs. est. loss (-$0.17); Q1 revs $98.1M vs. est. $100M; Q1 Operating Income $-7.307M, Q1 gross margin 37.4% and Q1 adj Ebitda loss (-$3.6M).

• Atrium Therapeutics (RNA) announces $50M Private Placement; to sell 6.3 million shares or pre-funded warrants at $7.93 apiece; will have runway fund operations through 2028.

• Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) announced a collaboration with Arm (ARM) to enable secure control, management, and platform adaptability for AI infrastructure.
• Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) said it expects its operating profit for this quarter to be more than double what it made for all of 2025; estimated an operating profit of 107.4 trillion won ($80.17 billion) for the July-September period, slightly ahead of consensus of 106.1 trillion won.
• Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) said September sales rose 55% on year, but they were down 0.6% from the previous month; record Q3 revenue of T$1.49 trillion ($46.71 billion), beating the market forecast and rising 50% from the year-earlier period due to surging demand for AI applications.
• Wolfspeed (WOLF) shares surged as announces conditional 30-year, $1.5B loan commitment from U.S. department of war to advance domestic wide bandgap supply chain; to upgrade gallium nitride epitaxy and develop radiation-hardening capabilities with financing.