US Close 29 October 2026: S&P 500 -0.30% as Alphabet Falls 12.64%; Amazon -6.72% After Hours
S&P 500 close: 7,720.39 (-0.30%) Breadth: 349 advancers / 150 decliners (499 large caps swept) Sentiment: mixed
The S&P 500 closed at 7,720.39 on 29 October 2026, down 23.59 points or 0.30%, ending a three-day gain as GOOGL.US fell 12.64% after Alphabet's capital spending left free cash flow negative for a second quarter. NOW.US dropped 26.95% on slower bookings guidance, while LLY.US rose 6.63% on a raised 2026 revenue forecast and 349 of 499 large caps finished higher. Third-quarter GDP grew at a 3.4% annual rate against 3.2% expected, and the 10-year Treasury yield fell 6 bps to 4.99%.
What moved the index
The S&P 500 lost 30 bps on 29 October 2026; Alphabet alone took about 75 bps, and gains in health care, financials and defensive sectors returned most of it.
- Alphabet (GOOGL.US -12.64%, GOOG.US -12.29%): about -75 bps on a combined weight near 6%. Third-quarter EPS of $2.12 missed the $3.02 consensus as capital spending more than doubled to $51.4 billion, and free cash flow was -$9.1 billion (Benzinga, StockTitan).
- AI hardware and software: about -45 bps. AMZN.US -4.25% into its results, MU.US -4.98%, AVGO.US -1.94%, NVDA.US -0.80%, plus NOW.US -26.95%, FTNT.US -20.09% and MRVL.US -13.24%. The IGV software fund fell 4.1% by midday (Benzinga).
- Health care (XLV +2.40%): about +22 bps on a weight near 9%. LLY.US +6.63% and MRK.US +3.83% after raised guidance; CNBC reported the S&P 500 health care sector at an all-time high.
- Financials, staples, real estate, utilities and AAPL.US: about +55 bps. XLF +1.44%, XLP +1.54%, XLRE +2.21% and XLU +1.53% as yields fell; AAPL.US +1.48%, MA.US +4.16%, V.US +2.48%.
Together, these four account for about -43 bps of the -30 bps move; consumer discretionary outside Amazon (XLY +0.75%, CVNA.US +15.68%, CMG.US +8.88%) makes up the residual.
Session highlights
- 3.4% annualized third-quarter GDP growth in the BEA advance estimate, above the 3.2% consensus and up from 2.2% in the second quarter.
- 3.6% year-on-year headline PCE inflation in September and 3.1% core, up 0.5% and 0.3% on the month (BEA). Real consumer spending rose less than 0.1%.
- 2,859.22 on the Russell 2000, up 1.01%, against a 1.38% drop in the Nasdaq Composite to 26,184.73. Benzinga said a session with small caps up more than 1% and the Nasdaq 100 down more than 1% last happened in July 2024.
- 52,342.56 on the Dow, down 132.54 points (-0.25%); CAT.US -9.25% was its largest drag. The VIX rose 1.71% to 17.20.
- DXY -0.26% to 101.93 and gold futures -0.45% to $4,033.30 an ounce.
Sector scorecard
- Best: Health care (XLV +2.40%)
- Worst: Communication services (XLC -1.87%)
- Dispersion (best minus worst): 4.27 pts
- Nine of 11 SPDR sector funds rose; technology (XLK -1.18%) was the other decliner. Inside industrials, TXT.US +11.67% and HII.US +13.23% sat against CAT.US -9.25% and HONA.US -9.60%, while XLI moved 0.97%.
Top movers
| Ticker | Move | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| GKOS.US | +33.65% | Record Q3 net sales of $211.0 million, up 58%; raised revenue guidance |
| ADT.US | +33.20% | Thrive Holdings to buy it for $10.00 a share cash, $15.3 billion with debt |
| BHC.US | +28.76% | Q3 revenue up 10% to $2.94 billion; raised guidance and a $50 million buyback |
| CROX.US | +25.54% | Raised full-year sales and profit outlook, its third raise this year |
| PURR.US | +23.27% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven. |
| IOVA.US | -35.45% | Lung cancer trial response rate of 24.6%, 17 of 69 patients |
| NOW.US | -26.95% | EPS $1.00 vs $1.02 expected; Q4 cRPO growth guide of 18.5% |
| ALNY.US | -25.13% | US amyloidosis demand growth slowed to $81 million from $129 million |
| SFM.US | -22.58% | Q3 comparable sales -0.9%; Q4 guide of -2% to -4% |
| FTNT.US | -20.09% | Cut its service revenue forecast; service revenue grew 13% |
After-hours earnings
StockTitan and Benzinga reported these moves shortly after the close; extended-hours quotes are thin and can reverse.
- AMZN.US: closed -4.25% at $243.79, then fell 6.72% by 4:25pm ET (StockTitan). Revenue of $201.94 billion missed the $202.31 billion estimate and EPS of $1.89 missed $1.97; AWS revenue rose 39% to $46 billion, and trailing free cash flow was an outflow of $42.4 billion (Benzinga).
- INTC.US: closed -3.62% at $92.07, then fell 17.60% by 4:25pm ET (StockTitan). Third-quarter revenue was $16.5 billion, and the fourth-quarter guide of $15.0 billion to $16.0 billion sits below it.
- SNDK.US: 1.80% higher by 4:25pm ET (StockTitan) after fiscal first-quarter revenue of $11.0 billion and an eight-for-one stock split.
Notable announcements
- DASH.US: +5.61% after agreeing to buy Instacart parent Maplebear for $65 a share, mostly in cash, an 11% premium to Wednesday's close (CNBC).
- MRVL.US: -13.24% after Bloomberg reported advanced talks to acquire Lumentum; neither company had confirmed the talks by 4:00pm ET (StockTitan).
- CAT.US: adjusted EPS of $7.20 on revenue of $20.68 billion beat the $7.08 and $20.55 billion LSEG estimates, but construction industries sales came in below estimates (CNBC).
- LLY.US: third-quarter revenue rose 39% to $24.4 billion, and the 2026 revenue forecast moved to $91 billion to $92 billion (StockTitan).
Next session catalysts (ET)
- Fri 30 Oct, 8:30am: third-quarter Employment Cost Index (BLS).
- Fri 30 Oct, before the open: XOM.US third-quarter results at 6:30am ET; ABBV.US results with a 9:00am ET call.
- Tue 3 Nov: US midterm elections.
- Wed 9 Dec: next Fed decision, with the federal funds target at 3.75% to 4%.
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