Stocks trended lower throughout Thursday’s session, as worries about the ongoing government shutdown began to creep higher. Market participants also got a first look at third-quarter earnings season with Delta Air Lines (DAL) and PepsiCo (PEP) reporting.
At the close, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5% at 46,358, the broader S&P 500 was 0.3% lower at 6,735, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had given back 0.08% to 23,024.
With the government shutdown on its ninth day – and today’s Senate vote on a Republican funding proposal failing – there was no noteworthy economic data for market participants to consider.
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This made single-stock news the main driver of Thursday’s price action. Delta Air Lines, for one, jumped 4.3% after the air carrier reported higher-than-expected third-quarter results and gave encouraging fourth-quarter guidance, citing strong travel demand.
“Looking to 2026, Delta is well positioned to deliver top-line growth, margin expansion and earnings improvement consistent with our long-term financial framework,” said CEO Ed Bastian in the company’s earnings release.
PepsiCo pops after earnings
PepsiCo was another post-earnings winner, with the consumer staples stock climbing 4.2% after its results.
For the third quarter, the soft drink and snack maker reported earnings of $2.29 per share on revenue of $23.9 billion, more than Wall Street expected.
In a separate announcement, PepsiCo said that its chief financial officer, Jamie Caulfield, will retire next month. He will be replaced by Steve Schmitt, the current chief financial officer for Walmart U.S.
The earnings calendar starts to heat up next week with several big banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS), due to report.
Costco gains on solid September sales
Costco Wholesale (COST) rose 3.1% after the warehouse retailer said that sales rose 8% year over year in the five weeks ending October 5. Same-store sales were up 5.7% overall.
“Interestingly, the company offset slower one-year traffic growth with a modest acceleration in ticket,” says UBS Global Research analyst Michael Lasser, who has a Buy rating on COST. “We believe this was a function of healthy overall spending rather than an acceleration of tariff-related price increases.”
Ferrari has its worst day ever on dismal guidance
Ferrari (RACE) tumbled 15% – its worst day since the consumer discretionary stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 2015 – after the Italian carmaker gave updated full-year and long-term guidance.
For 2025, Ferrari now expects revenue of 7.1 billion euros and earnings of 8.80 euros per share – higher than its previous guidance but lower than what analysts are expecting.
“While RACE has a long history of providing conservative guidance, we think it is clear the company is entering a phase of weaker growth, which was the primary reason behind our downgrade of the shares to Sell from Hold in late July,” says CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson.
Nelson also questions Ferrari’s 2030 product line-up goal, which targets 40% of vehicles developed being internal combustion engines (ICE), 40% being hybrid and 20% being electric.
He believes this “introduces a high degree of revenue and margin uncertainty to the story, raising questions regarding the development cost, and ultimately, the commercial success of these new models.”