U.S. stocks traded unevenly Thursday, October 29, 2026, as technology earnings, persistent inflation and stronger-than-expected economic growth reshaped the market outlook. The Nasdaq Composite led the major benchmarks lower, while the Russell 2000 advanced, highlighting a rotation beneath the headline declines. Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) and ServiceNow (NOW) faced scrutiny over earnings execution and profitability, while Eli Lilly (LLY) delivered strong growth in obesity and diabetes treatments. Meanwhile, new economic data showed an expanding economy alongside inflation that remained above the Federal Reserve’s target.

Stock Market Performance: Nasdaq Falls as Small Caps Advance

The Nasdaq Composite declined 1.38%, substantially underperforming the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Russell 2000 gained 1.01%, suggesting that selling pressure was concentrated rather than uniform across equities.

The divergence matters. A sharp decline in technology-heavy benchmarks can obscure strength elsewhere, particularly when smaller companies move in the opposite direction. Thursday’s supplied readings showed that the market was repricing different groups differently, rather than moving through a broad-based selloff.

Treasury Yields, Oil, Gold and Bitcoin

The lower Treasury yield accompanied weakness in technology stocks, while crude oil was nearly unchanged. Bitcoin declined more than 1%, and the VIX edged higher.

Macroeconomic Report: Strong GDP Meets Stubborn Inflation

Thursday’s economic releases presented a complicated backdrop: economic activity remained resilient, but inflation continued to limit the case for easier monetary policy.

Third-Quarter GDP Grew at a 3.4% Annualized Rate

Real gross domestic product expanded at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 3.4% in the third quarter, exceeding the cited 3.1% forecast and accelerating from the second quarter’s 2.2% pace. Consumer spending increased at a 3.8% annualized rate, while equipment investment rose 20.9%. Those figures pointed to continued household demand and substantial business investment. For equities, the implications run in both directions. Stronger growth can support corporate revenue and earnings. However, resilient demand can also make it more difficult for inflation to return to target, reducing the urgency for interest-rate cuts.

September PCE Inflation Remained Elevated

The personal consumption expenditures price index increased 0.5% in September and 3.6% from a year earlier. Core PCE, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.3% for the month and 3.1% year over year. Energy contributed meaningfully to the headline increase. Gasoline and other energy goods rose 9.2% during September, while broader energy goods and services increased 5.4%. The report reinforced the distinction between economic strength and price stability. An expanding economy does not necessarily produce a more favorable interest-rate outlook when inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% objective.

Household Spending Outpaced Income Growth

Personal consumption expenditures increased 0.5% in September, compared with a 0.2% increase in personal income. The personal saving rate was 3.8%. The spending figures helped explain the economy’s resilience, but the gap between spending and income deserves attention. For consumer-facing companies, aggregate demand can remain healthy even as households become more selective about prices, brands and discretionary purchases.

Federal Reserve Outlook: A Pause Does Not Resolve Inflation Risk

Thursday’s reports arrived one day after the Federal Reserve maintained its benchmark interest-rate range at 3.75% to 4.00%. The October 28 decision passed by a 10-to-2 vote, with both dissenting members preferring a quarter-point increase. That division underscored the continuing concern about inflation. For many, the combination of steady rates, solid growth and elevated inflation points toward a data-dependent policy outlook. Expectations for the next rate decision remain sensitive to incoming inflation, employment and spending reports.

Technology Earnings: AI Demand Faces a Cash-Flow Test

Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG): Cloud Strength Could Not Offset Broader Concerns

Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) reported third-quarter revenue of $127.58 billion and earnings of $2.12 per share after Wednesday’s close. Advertising revenue of $82.01 billion fell short of the cited $83.5 billion expectation. Cloud revenue was stronger at $30.71 billion, exceeding expectations of approximately $29.1 billion. The company also reported negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion while maintaining a full-year capital expenditure forecast of $195 billion to $205 billion. Thursday’s negative share-price reaction reflected a demanding backdrop for large technology companies. Strong cloud growth remained important, but it did not eliminate questions about spending intensity, cash generation and performance across other businesses.

ServiceNow (NOW): An Earnings Miss Overshadowed Growth

ServiceNow (NOW) reported quarterly revenue of approximately $4.1 billion. Current remaining performance obligations, a measure of contracted revenue expected over the following 12 months, increased 20.5% to $13.65 billion. The company raised its full-year subscription revenue outlook to between $15.78 billion and $15.79 billion. However, adjusted earnings of $1.00 per share missed the cited $1.02 consensus estimate. The market response illustrated how difficult the earnings bar has become for software companies. Revenue growth and a higher outlook may not be enough when profitability falls short of expectations.

Amazon (AMZN): Cloud Growth and Capital Spending in Focus

Amazon (AMZN) was scheduled to report after Thursday’s closing bell. The preview centered on expectations for approximately 38% growth in its cloud business, along with updates on artificial intelligence demand and infrastructure capacity. The company had previously increased its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to $220 billion from $200 billion. The central question was whether rapid expansion could translate into attractive long-term cash generation. These figures were part of the earnings preview, not reported third-quarter results.

Healthcare: Eli Lilly (LLY) Delivers Strong Growth

Eli Lilly (LLY) reported third-quarter revenue of $24.4 billion, up 39% from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings of $7.48 per share. The company raised its full-year revenue outlook to between $91 billion and $92 billion. Mounjaro sales increased 65% to $10.7 billion, while Zepbound sales rose 49% to $5.35 billion. The results highlighted a significant earnings-growth driver outside technology. Demand for diabetes and obesity treatments provided a counterpoint to the uncertainty surrounding AI infrastructure spending.

Consumer Companies: Spending Remains Uneven

Hershey (HSY): Halloween Demand Highlights Affordability Concerns

Hershey (HSY) reduced its full-year organic sales growth outlook to approximately 3%, the bottom of its previous 3% to 3.5% range. Third-quarter organic sales increased 0.8%. Management pointed to financial pressures that could influence final Halloween purchases. The outlook offered an important qualification to the strong national spending data. Households can continue spending overall while becoming more price-sensitive in individual categories.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG): Sales Improved, but Earnings Fell Short

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) reported third-quarter comparable sales growth of 2.1%, above the cited 1.5% expectation. Adjusted earnings of $0.27 per share came in below the anticipated $0.29. The mixed performance showed why revenue momentum and earnings execution need to be evaluated separately.

Electric Vehicles: Rivian (RIVN) Advances, but Automotive Margins Remain Negative

Rivian Automotive (RIVN) reported record third-quarter deliveries of 19,248 vehicles and raised its full-year delivery outlook to between 67,000 and 70,000 vehicles. The company’s R2 model accounted for much of the sequential improvement in deliveries. Rivian (RIVN) reported consolidated gross profit of $176 million and a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $913 million. However, the automotive business recorded an $80 million gross loss, while software and services generated $256 million in gross profit. That distinction remains central to assessing progress. Consolidated gross profitability improved, but vehicle manufacturing had not yet achieved gross profitability for the quarter.

Housing: Mortgage Rates Ease to 7.24%

Freddie Mac (FMCC) reported that the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate declined to 7.24% from 7.32% a week earlier. The average 15-year mortgage rate fell to 6.60% from 6.68%. The declines offered modest relief, but rates remained above year-earlier levels of 6.17% for the 30-year mortgage and 5.41% for the 15-year mortgage. For housing activity, the distinction is important: an improvement in weekly borrowing costs does not necessarily remove the broader affordability challenge.

Market Outlook: Earnings Quality and Inflation Remain Central

Thursday’s developments highlighted three connected issues:

• Earnings quality: Technology companies faced greater scrutiny of profitability and cash generation alongside revenue growth.
• Monetary policy: Strong economic activity and persistent inflation complicated expectations for lower interest rates.
• Market breadth: Small-cap strength contrasted with Nasdaq weakness, showing that headline index declines did not describe every part of the market.

The next test is whether corporate earnings can justify current spending plans while the economy continues expanding without further inflation pressure.

Today’s VP Watchlist Corporate Updates

Amwell® (NYSE: AMWL)

Amwell® (NYSE: AMWL), a leading provider of technology-enabled care, closed at $14.98, +6.09%.

Amwell® will report third quarter 2026 operating results after stock market trading hours on Tuesday, November 3. Following the distribution of the earnings release via wire services, the Amwell management team will host a live conference call and webcast at 5 p.m. ET to review the company’s operating results and provide a general business update.

AMWL announced (Sept 8) announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has declared its intent for the Company to deploy its virtual health platform within the VA enterprise and help power the modernization of the VA’s digital health infrastructure. The VA anticipates the Amwell platform will support a broad range of clinical services, enhance care coordination, and improve access for our Veterans across the VA enterprise. The Letter of Intent follows a comprehensive evaluation process by the VA, in which it determined that Amwell’s virtual health platform aligns with the Department’s strategic objectives to expand access to high-quality, secure, and reliable virtual care services for Veterans nationwide through the VA’s current electronic health record modernization efforts. Specifically, the capabilities Amwell demonstrated in scalable video consultations, interoperability, cybersecurity compliance, and support for integrated care delivery were significant factors in this determination.

Amwell® has received Frost & Sullivan’s 2026 United States Technology Innovation Leadership Recognition in the Technology-Enabled Care Platforms Industry. The recognition validates Amwell’s ability to address healthcare fragmentation through a unified platform that orchestrates consumer experiences, clinician workflows, care programs, and partner solutions.

The Company also reiterated recently its objective to achieve positive cash flow from operations in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Serina Therapeutics (NYSE: SER)

Serina Theraeuptics (NYSE: SER, $1.89, +15.24%) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of wholly owned drug product candidates to treat neurological diseases and other indications. Serina’s POZ PlatformTM provides the potential to improve the integrated efficacy and safety profile of multiple modalities including small molecules, RNA-based therapeutics and antibody-based drug conjugates (ADCs). Serina is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama on the campus of the HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology.

On Thursday, September 24, 2026, Serina CEO Steve Ledger discussed discuss Serina’s programs’ progress during Tribe Public’s “A New Approach to Advanced Parkinson’s Disease: Serina Discusses SER-252’s Clinical Progress”webinar, followed by a live Q&A. You may view it below.

SER announced (Sept. 9) that the independent Safety Monitoring Committee (SMC) has completed its blinded review of Cohort 1 of the ongoing Phase 1b registrational study of SER-252 in patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease and recommended that the study advance to Cohort 2. Cohort 1 evaluated the lowest dose level in the single-ascending-dose portion of the study. In addition to supporting continued dose escalation, blinded Cohort 1 observations showed a pharmacokinetic profile consistent with the sustained apomorphine exposure SER-252 is designed to provide and included sustained periods of improvement in motor function in individual patients on exploratory clinical measures.

Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (EPRX)

Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (EPRX, $7.25), a clinical-stage biotechnology company leveraging its proprietary Diffusphere™ technology designed to optimize local, controlled drug delivery for applications with significant unmet need, announced (Oct. 15) that the ongoing RESOLVE study evaluating the safety and efficacy of EP-104GI for the treatment of Eosinophilic Esophagitis (“EoE”) has reached its enrollment target. “This is a significant milestone for the RESOLVE trial and the development of EP-104GI as a potential treatment option in EoE” said Dr. James Helliwell, Chief Executive Officer of Eupraxia. “We look forward to our interim analysis in December where we will be reporting on symptoms, histologic findings and safety in the first 60 patients in Phase 2b to reach 6 months. Data will also be available on the patients at 3, 9- and 12-month timepoints giving a fulsome interim look at the RESOLVE Trial”.

Modular Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: MODD)

Modular Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: MODD, $1.72), a commercial-stage medical device company preparing for the full commercial launch of its next-generation Pivot™ tubeless patch pump, announced (Oct. 27) that it has received a positive decision from its notified body regarding certification of its quality management system under ISO 13485:2016. The notified body is designated under the European Union Medical Device Regulation (“MDR”).

MODD announced (October 15) the launch of two innovative digital education resources designed to assist people living with diabetes build familiarity and confidence with insulin therapy ahead of formal training on the Pivot insulin delivery system. Developed in partnership with Relevate Health Games, the new tools use game-based technology to walk patients through the skills needed for insulin pump therapy. The resources are designed to help reduce barriers to adoption by allowing prospective users to become familiar with pump therapy before beginning formal onboarding. The first educational module gives users a virtual, hands-on walkthrough of the Pivot insulin delivery system. In approximately 15 minutes, users can visualize how to unpack the system, prepare and apply the pump, and understand the basic operational functions. The Pivot module was first previewed at the ADCES 2025 Annual Conference in August 2025. Healthcare providers may also use the platform to gauge a patient’s interest in pump therapy and ability to navigate basic operational tasks associated with insulin delivery devices. The experience offers clinicians valuable insight into patient engagement, learning readiness, and willingness to transition from multiple daily injections to a more advanced insulin delivery approach.

MODD announced (September 4) that it has secured a contract with a national U.S. pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) in the United States. Pursuant to the contract, the Company’s Pivot insulin delivery system is now available through the national PBM. The Company believes the engagement with this national PBM represents a significant step forward in broadening patient access to the Company’s Pivot tubeless patch pump and will further validate the Pivot pump as an accessible therapeutic option for people living with diabetes.

MODD announced (September 3) that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared a set of software enhancements to its Pivot insulin delivery system, further expanding the system’s functionality and providing users with greater flexibility and customization options in bolus dosing, an enhanced user-interface (UI), and other software upgrades.

MODD CEO, Jeb Besser, co-hosted a Tribe Public’s CEO Presentation and Q&A Webinar Event titled “The Road To Revenue: Modular Medical’s Strategy For Launching Pivot,” that was held Friday, September 4, 2026.. You may watch the event video below now if you missed it below now.

Doximity, Inc. (NYSE: DOCS)

Doximity (NYSE: DOCS, $33/63) is the leading digital platform for U.S. medical professionals. The company’s network members include more than 85% of U.S. physicians across all specialties and practice areas. Doximity provides its verified clinical membership with digital tools built for medicine, enabling them to collaborate with colleagues, stay current on medical news and research, manage their careers and on-call schedules, streamline documentation and administrative paperwork, and conduct virtual patient visits.

DOCS announced that its has launched DoseCheck, a free additional safety layer in Doximity Ask that instantly checks every AI-generated medication dosing claim against a structured drug database to reduce treatment errors and increase patient safety. The probabilistic nature of AI means that it predicts the most likely answer based on the data it’s been trained on. This can lead to different but equally confident answers to the same prompt. When it comes to drug dosing, doctors need to know that the dosing recommendations AI generates are consistently accurate. Building on Doximity’s existing work around AI safety, DoseCheck adds a deterministic, rule-based verification step to all dosing recommendations in Doximity Ask, Doximity’s clinical decision making support tool. By checking against FDA labeling and professional guidelines, DoseCheck increases accuracy to more than 99%.

Doximity and Wolters Kluwer Health, announced (Oct. 20) that UpToDate’s trusted, evidence-based, clinical content will be accessible directly within Doximity’s fast-growing AI clinical decision support tool, Ask.

DOCS announced (Oct. 13) it has extended its 13-year partnership with U.S. News & World Report, the nation’s most trusted source of independent healthcare information, rankings and guidance to help patients identify the best care for their needs.

Nvidia (NVDA, $213.66, -.80%)

NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), at its GTC event in Berlin recently, the company unveiled its DSX POD, a reference design for an AI data center packed into a box about the size of a standard shipping container. According to Nvidia, the Vera Rubin-powered DSX PODs will arrive on site, ready to be plugged into the power, cooling, and networking infrastructure, reducing deployment time from six months to 14 days. The company said DSX PODs won’t replace traditional data centers, but will serve as a means to start running AI applications before brick-and-mortar facilities are ready.

The Sources

1. Federal Reserve: October 28, 2026, monetary policy statement
2. October 29 stock market developments and earnings updates
3. October Federal Reserve rate decision and policy commentary
4. Bureau of Economic Analysis: Personal Income and Outlays, September 2026
5. Third-quarter GDP and September PCE inflation report
6. Quarterly earnings updates: Healthcare, technology, software and consumer companies
7. Amazon (AMZN): Third-quarter earnings preview
8. Rivian Automotive (RIVN): Third-quarter results and updated outlook
9. Hershey (HSY): Halloween demand and sales outlook
10. Freddie Mac (FMCC): Mortgage rates decline to 7.24%