Image Source: Pixabay

Markets sagged throughout the course of today’s trading session after starting mixed, with the Dow basking in Microsoft’s (MSFT) stellar previous-afternoon’s earnings report. It finished down -105 points, -0.32%, and it was the top-performing of the four major indices. The S&P 500 shed -1.43% and the Nasdaq dropped -318 points, -2.43%. The small-cap Russell 2000 fell -1.66% on the day.

Bond yields ticked higher again during the course of the day. The 2-year crept to its highest levels since early 2007, now at 5.127%. The 10-year moved ever-closer to finishing a trading day above 5%, coming within 4 basis points to 4.963% — back to an inversion rate sub-20 basis points (bps). This, as we’ve seen over the past couple weeks, is really throwing a wet blanket on the equities market, providing risk-free returns at now historically attractive levels.

We look to Q3 earnings season for a way forward on stocks, and Meta Platforms (META) is up +4% on its quarterly results after the bell today. The social media leader posted a big beat on earnings — $4.39 per share versus expectations of $3.62 and the year-ago number of $1.64 per share. Revenues of $34.15 billion outpaced the $33.45 billion expected, +23% year over year. This is the fourth-straight earnings beat for the company.

Daily Active Users (DAU) grew +5% year over year to 2.09 billion, while Monthly Active Users (MAU) went up +3% to a whopping 3.05 billion. Headcount for Meta staff has dwindled -24% to 66,185 year over year, a continued sign of downsizing at the company, which had been sharply criticized in quarters past for keeping too much staff. The stock is +140% year to date.

IBM (IBM) put up mixed numbers in its Q3 earnings report this afternoon, typically beating on the bottom line — this time by 8 cents, to $2.20 per share — on revenues that came in slightly beneath expectations at $14.75 billion. Software sales grew +8% year over year in the quarter. Shares of the tech giant are up +2% on the news in late trading.

ServiceNow (NOW) also posted Q3 results after today’s closing bell, and it beat on both top and bottom lines: earnings of $2.92 per share easily eclipsed the $2.55 expected and the $1.96 per share from the year-ago quarter. Subscription revenue growth rose +25%, with a reported 49 customers bringing in m ore than $20 million in Annual Contract Value (ACV). Shares are up +5% following the release for the cybersecurity software company, and now north of +40% year to date.

Tomorrow, the cavalcade of Q3 earnings reports continues, with Amazon (AMZN) and Chipotle (CMG) after the closing bell and Bristol Myers-Squibb (BMY), Ford (F) snd UPS (UPS) coming out beforehand, among many others. We’ll also get a first look at Q3 GDP, Durable Goods Orders and Trade Balance for September, Pending Home Sales, and Weekly Jobless Claims.

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