Midday Fly By: GM, Coca-Cola report Q3 beats

The major averages were mixed near noon as the U.S. government shutdown approaches its fourth week. The Dow is the biggest gainer so far, propped up by upbeat corporate earnings releases. Investors continue to monitor even more major earnings players for the remainder of this week, including Netflix (NFLX) and Tesla (TSLA).

Looking to commodities, gold prices plunged significantly, down over 5% and erasing much of its recent sharp gains. Oil prices are edging lower, meanwhile, ahead of this afternoon’s API crude numbers.

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• General Motors (GM) reported a “beat and raise” report for Q3
• Coca-Cola (KO) reported better-than-expected Q3 results and provided Q4 and FY26 EPS growth guidance
• GE Aerospace (GE) provided a “beat and raise” report for Q3
• Hologic (HOLX) agreed to be acquired by Blackstone (BX) for $18.3B
• Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) initiated a review of strategic alternatives, including a possible “transaction for the entire company”

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Goldman Sachs (GS) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan
• Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo
• BNP Paribas Exane, Citi downgrade NuScale Power (SMR) to sell-equivalent ratings
• Leerink upgraded Exelixis (EXEL) to Outperform following ESMO presentation
• Capri Holdings (CPRI) upgraded to Outperform at Raymond James

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Alibaba Cloud (BABA) has detailed a GPU pooling system that it claims reduced the number of Nvidia (NVDA) H20s required by 82% when serving dozens of LLMs of up to 72B parameters, SCMP reports
• In a letter to two lawmakers, Live Nation’s (LYV) Ticketmaster says it will ban users from operating multiple accounts and shut down its TradeDesk platform after an FTC lawsuit, Billboard reports
• Coinbase (COIN) has agreed to acquire Echo, a blockchain-based capital-raising platform, in a deal valued at roughly $375M, WSJ says
• Due to the U.S. government shutdown, Unilever (UL) is delaying the demerger of its Magnum unit, Reuters says
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) Chairman Helge Lund and six independent directors are stepping down after a dispute with the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the drugmaker’s majority shareholder, FT says

4. MOVERS:

• Eos Energy (EOSE) increases after being awarded joint $24M economic development packages in the U.S. and partnering with Talen Energy (TLN) to develop energy storage capacity across Pennsylvania
• Haliburton (HAL) gains after reporting Q3 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• Danaher (DHR) and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) higher after reporting quarterly results
• Critical Metals (CRML) lower in New York after filing to sell 18.03M shares
• HCM II Acquisition (HOND) falls after shareholders approved its combination with Terrestrial Energy

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Lockheed Martin (LMT) reported Q3 results and raised its EPS guidance for FY25
• 3M (MMM) reported Q3 results and raised its guidance for FY25, with CEO William Brown “very pleased with our teams’ focus on reinvigorating organic top-line growth and improving operational performance”
• Philip Morris (PM) reported Q3 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• RTX (RTX) reported Q3 results and raised its guidance for FY25
• GeoPark (GPRK) provided guidance for FY25, FY26-FY28, and FY29-FY30

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 0.65%, or 304.44, to 47,011.02, the Nasdaq was down 0.02%, or 4.61, to 22,985.93, and the S&P 500 was up 0.14%, or 9.38, to 6,744.51.