Stocks Under Pressure After Misses by Tesla, IBM

Published as of: October 23, 2025, 9:21 a.m. ET

(Thursday market open) Stock futures were down slightly Thursday morning as investors digested a fresh slate of earnings reports, including misses by Tesla (TSLA) and IBM (IBM) amid a growing sense that markets are on edge even as the major indexes sit near all-time highs. Investors await earnings from Ford Motor (F) and Intel (INTC) after the close, as well as inflation data due out Friday. Crude oil jumped 5% after the U.S. announced sanctions on Russia's biggest oil companies, and gold was up more than 1% in early trading.

Tesla reported after the bell Wednesday that third-quarter earnings per share missed the FactSet consensus by $0.06, and profit was down 37%. Revenue climbed nearly 12% from a year ago to $28.09 billion, topping the consensus of $26.54 billion. Tesla was the first Magnificent Seven stock to report this season. Meanwhile, estimates for Friday's Consumer Price Index, or CPI, indicate little chance of any relief for stubborn U.S. inflation. Analysts see year-over-year core CPI growth of 3.1%, well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Core excludes food and energy. Expectations of a Fed rate cut next week approach 99%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. 

With official data largely lacking due to the government shutdown, trade headlines again hit stocks Wednesday. This time it was a report from Reuters saying the Trump administration was considering restricting software exports to China. Speculative assets favored by retail traders, including gold and cryptocurrencies, again took some of the biggest blows, amid signs of a growing risk-off sentiment. Earnings misses by Netflix (NFLX) and soft guidance from Texas Instruments (TXN) also weighed on the market.

1. Gold bounces off support, for now: After gold's biggest one-day drop in more than a decade on Tuesday, gold futures fell as much as 2.8% Wednesday before closing 0.5% lower as the so-called debasement trade appeared to start unwinding. At one point on Wednesday, gold had fallen 7.7% over a two-day period, just two days after reaching an all-time high following a gain of about 30% since August. While central bank buying has been a major driver of gold's year-long rally, the parabolic move of the past two months has been driven largely by retail buyers piling into gold exchange-traded funds (ETF), said Nathan Peterson, director of derivatives analysis at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. This had pushed gold well into overbought territory, where it had been for some time before the sharp selloff began on Tuesday, and the pullback is part of a rolling correction in frothy, speculative areas of markets, with traders taking profits wherever possible to offset losses in other areas. Gold bounced off the 20-day simple moving average Wednesday, but it's too early to tell whether the pullback has worked off the speculative excess and set the stage for another leg higher, Peterson said.
    
2. Sentiment shifting on bitcoin: Broader market jitters appear to be hitting bitcoin, which has served as both a debasement trade asset and a risk-on, momentum asset in recent months, according to my colleague Jim Ferraioli, Schwab cryptocurrency strategist. Momentum turned negative after the October 10 "flash crash" selloff and now the market is reacting to headlines and a growing risk-off sentiment in line with equities. Bitcoin was up as much as 2% on Tuesday, for example, before President Trump warned that he may not meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping for trade talks after all. It quickly reversed and headed lower for the day. Another factor likely weighing on the coin is that previous bitcoin bull market cycles have peaked at around 18 to 20 months, which is where the current cycle is, Ferraioli said. On the other hand, bitcoin remains near a long-term support level, and the tumble on October 10 may have cleared the decks for investors to open new positions. But a breakdown below support from here could lead to the bearish view taking hold. Bitcoin futures (/BTC) were up nearly 1% Thursday after falling nearly 4% Wednesday.
    
3. Signs of flight to safety: The 10-year Treasury note yield hit six-month lows below 3.95% earlier this week, possibly a signal of market caution and a flight toward perceived safety. That argument got buttressed by the recent selloff in gold, silver, and crypto and by strength in the U.S. dollar. This is in some ways the opposite of what investors might expect less than a week before an expected Fed rate cut. But it may reflect growing concerns about lack of government data with the shutdown now three weeks old with no resolution in sight. Estimates for Friday's CPI indicate little chance of any relief from stubborn U.S. inflation. Monthly headline and core inflation growth are seen at 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively, Briefing.com said. Those are both the same as in August. The government is publishing CPI because it needs the data to adjust Social Security payments, but no other data are expected as long as the shutdown lasts. As for the 10-year yield, it may not have much more room to fall. "We're not convinced it will move meaningfully lower from here given sticky inflation and budget concerns," said Collin Martin, director, fixed income strategy at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. "Unless the labor market weakens significantly or economic growth slows considerably, we think the 10-year yield will stay near 4% or higher, even in the face of Fed rate cuts."

• Tesla fell nearly 4% in early trading. The electric-vehicle maker reported after Wednesday's close that profit fell 37% in the third quarter. Rising costs undermined record EV sales last quarter, Bloomberg reported.
   
• IBM (IBM) tumbled 7% in pre-market trading after reporting that it beat earnings expectations but its software revenue was in line with Wall Street estimates. The company reported slowing growth in its core cloud software services.
   
• T-Mobile (TMUS) shares were down less than 1% after reporting third-quarter profit that missed expectations, partly due to an impairment expense. However, the company reported a record 2.3 million new post-paid subscribers during the quarter, easily topping analyst expectations of 1.5 million.
   
• American Airlines (AAL) were down less than 1% despite reporting before the bell that it had recorded a smaller-than-expected loss in the third quarter while beating revenue expectations. Its fourth-quarter and full-year estimates also topped estimates. The company now expects a full-year profit on the back of corporate and premium travel revenue.
   
• Union Pacific (UNP) edged higher early today after earnings topped analysts' expectations and revenue came in as expected. The company has paused share repurchases due to its $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern (NSC), which it called a "historic opportunity to create America's first transcontinental railroad."
   
• Honeywell (HON) climbed more than 4% ahead of the open, bolstered by earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street's expectations. Strength was notable in the company's aerospace technologies division, where sales grew 12%.
   
• Rigetti Computing (RGTI) and IONQ (IONQ) both rose 8% to 9% in early action today after the Trump administration said it's considering having the government take a stake in quantum computing companies.
   
• Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) jumped 3% ahead of the open after earnings and revenue topped consensus views. Consolidated production in the quarter was affected by a temporary suspension of operations in Indonesia after a September incident there, the company said. Average realized copper prices were $4.68 a pound in the quarter, and $3,539 per ounce for gold.
   
• Intel (INTC) edged 1% higher ahead of its earnings report due after the close. Intel's results follow disappointing earnings from semiconductor giant Texas Instruments earlier this week, but chip manufacturing and supply companies had strong earnings last quarter. Investors will likely be interested in Intel's broader strategy after a series of recent investments in the company, including from Nvidia (NVDA) and the U.S. government, Reuters noted.
   
• Halliburton (HAL) rose another 1% ahead of the open. The energy services company has rallied this week on climbing crude prices and on strong data center energy demand. Halliburton said last week it would more than double its planned power generation capacity for data centers, Fortune reported.
   
• Crude oil futures (CL) jumped 5% after the U.S. announced sanctions on Russian suppliers Rosneft and Lukoil, which together account for about half of Russia's oil exports, over the war in Ukraine. Rosneft and Lukoil account for exports of around 2 million barrels a day.
   
• Gold (/GC) and silver (/SI) were up 1% and 2%, respectively, as both precious metals sit near areas of technical support following sharp selloffs in recent days.

Bonds, the basics: Not all government bonds are the same. Learn the difference between Treasury and agency bonds, their potential benefits and risks, and how each might fit into a portfolio, in Government Bond Basics: Treasury and Agency Bonds.

Keeping emotions in check: How can investors make sure emotions don't get in the way of good investing decisions? Mike Townsend, managing director, legislative and regulatory affairs at Schwab, welcomes Stephanie Shadel, senior wealth advisor at Charles Schwab, on the latest edition of WashingtonWise. Townsend also shares updates on the ongoing government shutdown.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield (TNX:CGI—candlesticks) dipped this week to six-month lows near 3.95% and well below its 200-day moving average (blue line), as seen in this three-year chart. Notably, the level it's at now remains in the range it's traded in most of 2024 and 2025, still above last fall's lows and well below the late-2023 peak near 5%. 

Check out the investors' calendar for a summary of the top economic events and earnings reports on tap this week.

October 24: September Consumer Price Index (CPI) and expected earnings from Procter & Gamble (PG), Sanofi (SNY), HCA Healthcare (HCA), General Dynamics (GD), and Illinois Tool Works (ITW).
October 27: September durable goods orders and expected earnings from Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP), Avis Budget Group (CAR), Nucor (NUE), Whirlpool (WHR), WM (WM), and NXP Semiconductors (NXPI).
October 28: October Consumer Confidence and expected earnings from Visa (V), Seagate Technology (STX), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), UPS (UPS), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Wayfair (W), and HSBC (HSBC).
October 29: FOMC rate decision and expected earnings from Microsoft (MSFT), Meta Platforms (META), Alphabet (GOOGL), Caterpillar (CAT), Verizon (VZ), Boeing (BA), CVS Health (CVS), Starbucks (SBUX), and Chipotle (CMG).
October 30: Third-quarter advance GDP and initial and continuing jobless claims, and expected earnings from Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), Eli Lilly (LLY), Merck (MRK), Mastercard (MA), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Cheniere Energy (LNG), and Stellantis (STLA).