US Close 20 October 2026: Dow +1.02% as Health Care Hits a Record; GM.US -6.84%, NFLX.US -5% After Hours

S&P 500 close: 7,712.57 (+0.28%) VIX: 17.31 (-6.13%) Sentiment: mixed

The S&P 500 closed at 7,712.57 on 20 October 2026, up 21.84 points or 0.28%, as health care rose 2.37% to a record and financials gained 1.20%, while AAPL.US, GOOGL.US and META.US fell between 1.00% and 1.59%. GM.US lost 6.84% after narrowing its 2026 profit range despite a third-quarter beat. December WTI crude slipped 0.37% to $98.18 after touching a five-month high, per Reuters, and the 10-year Treasury yield eased about 2 bps to 5.12%.

At a glance

The Dow added 529.85 points and the Nasdaq lost 6.07. The S&P 500 reached 7,744.51 in hourly trading and closed 32 points below that high. The Russell 2000 gained 1.65%, ahead of all three large-cap indices, and advancing NYSE issues outnumbered decliners 2.51 to 1 at midday, per Reuters. The US Dollar Index fell 0.27% to 101.71 and December gold 0.42% to $4,142.50.

What moved the index

The S&P 500 gained 28 bps on 20 October 2026; health care, financials and the rate-sensitive sectors added about 44 bps, and three platform stocks took back about 17 bps.

• LLY.US +3.49% to $1,283.66 after an intraday record, per Reuters; a pediatric Omvoh trial met its primary endpoint the same day, per Grafa. Bristol Myers Squibb rose 4.84%, Merck 3.25% and UNH.US 3.04%.
• Financials +1.20% as JPMorgan added 0.52% and COF.US 0.87% into its after-hours report. Monday's 0.83% sector loss came as the 10-year yield rose to 5.136%; Tuesday's yield dipped to 5.12%.
• Technology -0.28% as Nvidia slipped 0.29% and Microsoft 0.31%. META.US fell 1.59% to $694.25 a day before its results.

Together these drivers sum to about 27 bps of the 28 bps move. The Dow's 1.02% gain beat the S&P 500 because it weights by share price: UNH.US added $12.38 a share and MMM.US $9.36.

Session highlights

• MMM.US +5.78% to $171.37 after third-quarter adjusted EPS of $2.50 beat the $2.39 estimate and 2026 guidance rose to $9.10 to $9.15, per the company. 3M also expanded a data-center deal with Amazon that includes a warrant for 3M shares, per Reuters.
• BRZE.US +51.70% to $45.57 after Salesforce agreed to buy Braze for $47.50 a share in cash, an enterprise value of about $5.66 billion, per the merger filing. Salesforce closed flat at $242.43.
• GE.US -3.67% to $299.87 even though orders rose 49% and adjusted EPS guidance moved to $8.00 to $8.10; third-quarter free cash flow of $2.0 billion missed the roughly $2.2 billion estimate, per Schaeffer's. Howmet Aerospace fell 3.82% and Quanta Services 3.62%.
• EFX.US +11.33% to $176.54 on a third-quarter profit beat, per Reuters. HAS.US gained 11.20% to $109.52 after adjusted EPS of $2.90 against a $1.86 consensus and a raised revenue forecast.

Sector scorecard

• Best: Health care (+2.37%)
• Worst: Technology (-0.28%)
• Dispersion (best minus worst): 2.65 pts
• Real estate (+1.70%), utilities (+1.26%) and financials (+1.20%) followed health care; industrials (+0.07%) and communication services (+0.09%) were flat, with MMM.US +5.78% and GE.US -3.67% inside the same sector.

Top movers

After-hours earnings

Netflix fell 5% after hours on 20 October 2026 on soft fourth-quarter revenue guidance despite a third-quarter beat, per Investing.com.

• NFLX.US closed the regular session at $68.69 (-1.66%), then fell 5% after hours, per Investing.com. Third-quarter EPS was $0.87 against a $0.82 consensus.
• ISRG.US dropped 11% after hours, per Investing.com, after a revenue beat and a $450 million pre-tax charge tied to an antitrust class-action settlement.
• COF.US jumped 5% after hours on third-quarter EPS of $6.69 against about $5.50 expected, per Investing.com.
• SMCI.US jumped 12% after hours after raising its preliminary fiscal first-quarter revenue and gross margin guidance, per Investing.com.
• UAL.US fell 2% after hours on a third-quarter miss and fourth-quarter guidance below estimates; Pegasystems slid 5% after a third-quarter miss, per Investing.com.
• SpaceX rose 1.5% after hours on third-quarter revenue growth of 161% year on year, per Investing.com.

Notable announcements

• Salesforce and Braze: $47.50 a share in cash, enterprise value about $5.66 billion; the Braze board approved the merger unanimously, per the 8-K.
• General Motors: GM.US fell 6.84% to $77.09 after cutting the top of its 2026 adjusted EBIT range to $15.5 billion from $16.0 billion, per Bloomberg and 24/7 Wall St. Third-quarter adjusted EPS was $3.70 against $3.63 expected, alongside a new $20 billion multi-year buyback and $238 million of strategic realignment charges.
• 3M: 2026 adjusted free cash flow expected at about $4.8 billion; the guidance now treats intangible amortisation as a special item, worth about $0.04 of adjusted EPS.

Next session catalysts (ET)

• Wed 21 Oct, before the open: AT&T, Philip Morris, Thermo Fisher, Abbott, NextEra Energy and CME Group report, per Newsquawk.
• Wed 21 Oct, after the close: Tesla, META.US, IBM, Texas Instruments and Lam Research report. Tesla's webcast is at 5:30pm ET, per its 8-K.
• Thu 22 Oct, before the open: Union Pacific and American Airlines report, per TipRanks and company-confirmed calendars.

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