Stock Market Today: Dow Tumbles 600 Points as Volatile Week Comes to a Close; Oil Prices Rise Further on Middle East Tensions

Energy, Information Technology Only S&P 500 Sectors in Green Today

FROM 1 hr 39 min ago

Nearly all of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors are in the red today.

Energy and Information Technology are the only sectors trading in positive territory on a day of broad-based declines, rising 2.5% and 0.5%, respectively.

The benchmark index is down 0.5% overall and headed for a losing week.

Energy shares are being lifted by rising crude prices. Oilfield-services firms SLB (SLB) and Halliburton (HAL) are powering the sector, up 6.5% and 5%, respectively.

American Express to Lay Off 5% of Workforce ‘To Prepare for AI’

FROM 2 hr 39 min ago

American Express is trimming its headcount. Right-sizing for AI is part of the reason.

Chief executive Stephen Squeri said on American Express’s third-quarter earnings call Friday that the financial services giant “took a $336 million charge for restructuring in the quarter, which is expected to result in the elimination of approximately 5% of our positions globally.”

As of December 31, 2025, American Express (AXP) employed about 76,800 people, meaning the layoffs would affect roughly 3,800 workers.

Squeri added that the firm’s “strong business performance throughout the year has enabled us to step up our marketing and technology investments, so we decided to use some of the gain to invest in making the organization more efficient and better prepared for the future.”

Finance chief Christophe Le Caillec told CNBC that the restructuring was intended to make American Express “leaner, more agile, and also to prepare for AI.”

American Express posted Q3 adjusted earnings of $4.68 per share on revenue that increased 9% year-over-year to $20.06 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected $4.49 per share and $20.14 billion, respectively. The firm also raised its full-year EPS outlook.

Shares of American Express are down 3.5% today and 15% since the start of the year.

Memory, Storage Stocks Rebound After Western Digital Earnings Land

FROM 4 hr 19 min ago

Memory and data storage stocks are shaking off some of their blues. 

The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) was recently up about 3.5%, on pace to post gains for the week, after falling yesterday, a bright spot in Friday morning’s generally downbeat market action. The broader iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was recently about 1.2% higher. 

One bit of news behind the action was Western Digital’s earnings, which landed last night. Shares of the hard drive maker were recently up 0.5% in early trading after posting earnings that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. 

Western Digital (WDC) reported adjusted earnings per share of $4.64 on a 55% year-over-year jump in revenue to $4.38 billion for the fiscal first quarter. Both figures topped analysts’ estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. The company’s second-quarter outlook also exceeded consensus projections. 

Still, it may be getting harder for some of the market’s biggest AI winners to impress after a big run-up earlier in the year. UBS analysts on Friday clipped their price target on Western Digital to $435 from $470. Both numbers are below the Street average as measured by Visible Alpha’s analyst average. 

“Demand still significantly exceeds supply and we have a lot of confidence in WDC’s technology roadmap and execution, but the narrative is starting to shift here in a way that we think will continue to drive the multiple lower,” UBS analysts wrote Friday. 

Western Digital’s stock has roughly doubled in value from the start of the year, and remains one of the S&P 500’s top performers for 2026.

–Kara Greenberg

Bloom Energy Stock Sinks After Fuel-Cell Firm Reports Negative Free Cash Flow

FROM 4 hr 19 min ago

Bloom Energy topped analysts’ expectations for the top and bottom line in the third quarter, and the fuel-cell systems provider lifted its full-year revenue guidance. But it reported negative free cash flow, and investors are selling the stock in droves.

Shares of Bloom Energy (BE) are tumbling 11% Friday, a day after the San Jose, Calif.-based firm posted negative free cash flow of more than $180 million. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected positive free cash flow of more than $43 million.

“This quarter we used cash from operations, but that’s not the beginning of a trend,” CFO Simon Edwards said on the earnings call yesterday, according to an AlphaSense transcript. “We generated positive [Cash Flow from Operating Activities] year-to-date, even as we’ve increased operating investments in people and capabilities.”

Bloom Energy, which last month joined the S&P 500, registered adjusted profit of $0.94 per share on revenue that soared 138% year-over-year to $1.24 billion. Visible Alpha consensus forecasts called for $0.67 per share and $1.08 billion, respectively.

The firm—whose fuel-cell systems provide electricity for data centers and semiconductor manufacturing, among other uses—raised its fiscal 2026 revenue outlook to a range of $4.4 billion to $4.6 billion, which represents 122% annual growth at the midpoint.

“What began with hyperscalers is rapidly moving across market segments because every business needs reliable power to grow,” Bloom Energy founder and CEO KR Sridhar said. “We are building the electricity platform for the digital era: power where it is needed, when it is needed, clean and always on.”

Despite today’s setback, Bloom Energy shares have more than doubled this year.

SpaceX Talks Send Cell Tower Stocks Surging

FROM 5 hr 42 min ago

Cell tower stocks are jumping after a report that SpaceX is in talks with providers to secure thousands of cell sites to support its mobile carrier ambitions.

Shares of Crown Castle (CCI), a leading provider of cell tower infrastructure, were up more than 13% in early trading, after a Bloomberg report that the company is discussing leases with SpaceX (SPCX). Shares of American Tower (AMT) also climbed. 

SpaceX is looking to secure a minimum of 80,000 cell sites across the U.S. as part of its goals to make Starlink Mobile a major mobile carrier, according to the report. 

SpaceX and Crown Castle did not respond to Investopedia’s requests for comment in time for publication. 

Shares of major mobile providers AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), and T-Mobile (TMUS) were each down between 3% to 5% recently amid worries about competition. 

SpaceX shares rose less than 1% after plunging 9% in yesterday’s tech sell-off.

–Kara Greenberg

Deckers Outdoor Shares Sink as Ugg, Hoka Parent Trims Full-Year Sales Forecast

FROM 6 hr 59 min ago

Deckers Outdoor sees lower sales growth ahead for its Ugg and Hoka brands. Investors are dropping the stock.

Shares of Deckers Outdoor (DECK) are sinking 8% premarket Friday, a day after the footwear company trimmed its fiscal 2027 sales projections.

The Goleta, Calif.-based company, which also is the parent of Teva, now expects full-year sales the range of $5.700 billion to $5.725 billion, down from the previous guidance of $5.86 billion to $5.91 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were expected $5.88 billion.

Deckers sees Hoka sales increasing by a high-single-digit percentage from fiscal 2026, versus the prior forecast of a low-double-digit percentage. The company expects Ugg sales rising by a low-single-digit percentage, down from a mid-single-digit percentage.

Deckers did raise its full-year earnings-per-share forecasts to $7.80 to $7.95 from $7.35 to $7.50, aided by a roughly $0.52-per-share benefit related to tariff refunds.

For its fiscal 2027 second quarter, which ended Sept. 30, Deckers reported EPS of $2.31 per share, well ahead of estimates of $1.80, but sales that increased 3.5% year-over-year to $1.48 billion came up short of the expected $1.51 billion.

Deckers shares entered Friday down about 18% since the start of the year.

Unemployment Lines Are Shorter Than Any Time Since the 1960s

FROM 8 hr 18 min ago

Business has been slow lately if you happen to work at a state unemployment office.

Only 194,000 people filed for unemployment last week, down from 200,000 the week before, the Department of Labor said Thursday. Over the last four weeks, claims have averaged 197,750, tied with a stretch in 2022 for the lowest level since 1969. It also marks the first six-week period since 1969 that fewer than 200,000 people have filed claims, a statistic all the more remarkable because the workforce has more than doubled since then.

Economists have described the current labor market as a “low-hire, low-fire” environment, and Thursday’s statistics emphasized the latter half of the equation.

Employers have been reluctant to either expand or reduce their workforces amid uncertainty about the war in Iran, trade policy, and a crackdown on immigration that has reduced the number of available workers. The job market is both stable and stagnant, leaving people with jobs relatively secure in them, and job-seekers facing an uphill battle.

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

Stock Futures Head Lower at End of Wild Week as Oil Prices Rise Further on Middle East Tensions

FROM 8 hr 58 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.6%.

S&P 500 futures pointed 0.2% lower.

Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed.