• The major indexes continued their winning streak. The week wrapped up well with all major indexes gaining for the sixth week in a row, a move that was supported by solid earnings led by Netflix. "Quarterly earnings and economic data are helping to validate the bull thesis," said Nathan Peterson, director of derivatives analysis at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.
• Gains fueled falling yields. The stock market drew support from falling crude oil and Treasury yields dropping. US government bonds slumped after strong September retail-sales figures created doubts over how fast the interest rates would be lowered by the Feds. The selloff pushed Treasury yields higher by as much as seven to 10 basis points.
• Oil prices fell. Oil prices saw a weekly 7% drop on China demand concerns and a mixed outlook for the Mideast. On Friday Brent crude futures fell $1.39, or 1.87%, to $73.06 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at$69.22 a barrel, down $1.45 or 2.05%.
• American Express shares dropped. AXP slid more than 3% even though it outpaced analysts' EPS expectations in its latest earnings report. It fell just short of the FactSet revenue consensus but raised its full-year EPS outlook. 
• Netflix shares exploded. The streaming giant's stock rallied 11.09% after it surpassed analysts' EPS and revenue estimates and guided for fourth-quarter earnings and revenue above the FactSet average estimate. Operating margin climbed and ad-tier membership increased 35%.
• Taipei-listed shares of TSMC hit a record high on Friday. The world's largest contract chipmaker posted forecast-beating third-quarter earnings and gave a rosy outlook for strong artificial intelligence (AI) demand.
• U.S growth tracking came in strong. The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow indicator hit 3.4% on Friday for third-quarter growth, unchanged from the prior reading and well above the 2% to 3% growth anticipated by analysts. Investors now wait for the government's official first reading on third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth due October 30.
• Optimism for interest rate cuts is high. As of late Friday, traders build in a 91% chance that rates will fall 25 basis points at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on November 6–7, based on the CME FedWatch Tool. There's a 9% chance of no change from current rates. Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said he expects only a single quarter-point cut over the last two Fed meetings of the year. "A recession has never been in my outlook," Bostic said. "I've always felt that there was enough momentum in this economy to absorb the restrictiveness of our policy and drive inflation back down to its 2% target. I'm grateful that that's been playing out so well. But the job is not done."
• Q3 earnings are off to a good start. Over 60% of companies that reported earnings this week beat EPS and revenue estimates. Industrial giants will report this coming week including Boeing and IBM.

• Netflix (NFLX)
• GitLab (GTLB)
• Nova (NVMI)
• Alphabet (GOOGL)
• Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)

Biggest Gainers

• IAMGOLD Corp. (IAG) +16.83%
• Oklo, Inc. (OKLO) +15.89%
• Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (TDS) +15.40%
• Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) +11.09%
• Peleton Interactive, Inc. (PTON) +10.82%

Biggest Losers

• Fabrinet (FN) -8.78%
• Acadia Healthcare Company (ACHC) -12.29%
• Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA) - 7.00%
• Bunge Global SA (BG) -6.33%
• CVS Health Corp. (CVS) -5.23%

Weekly Notables

Nvidia, Google, and Other Tech Giants Head to Vegas

The Healthcare Technology (HLTH) conference kicks off today and tech companies including Google, Nvidia and Microsoft are headed there to talk about health-care AI. The event is expected to draw more than 12,000 industry leaders this year. 

BlackRock's ETF Chief Says 75% of Bitcoin Buyers are New to Tradin

In the last five trading days, spot bitcoin ETFs have seen net inflows of more than $2.1 billion, with BlackRock accounting for half of those sales. Of the 80% of direct investors buying IBIT, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of ETFs and index investments Samara Cohen, says 75% had never before owned an iShare. New data from Chainalysis shows that North America remains the biggest crypto market globally, accounting for nearly 23% of all crypto trading volume. The blockchain analytics platform estimates that between July 2023 and July 2024, there was $1.3 trillion in on-chain value received.

The Week Ahead

• Potential market moving catalysts this week: Data to watch this week include mortgage applications on Wednesday after a sharp decline last week, leading indicators from the Conference Board, and final October University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment.
• Earnings on deck this week: Boeing, Tesla, IBM, General Motors, SAP, Nucor, Danaher, GE Aerospace, Kimberly Clark, Texas Instruments, Norfolk Southern, Coca-Cola, Vertiv, T-Mobile, Lam Research, Honeywell, UPS, Southwest Airlines, and Colgate-Palmolive.

Earnings Spotlight: General Motors

Wall Street analysts forecast that General Motors (GM) will report quarterly earnings of $2.50 per share in its upcoming release, pointing to a year-over-year increase of 9.7%. It is anticipated that revenues will amount to $44.69 billion, exhibiting an increase of 1.3% compared to the year-ago quarter. The company will report on 10/22 ahead of the market open.