Stock Market Today: Dow Jones, S&P 500 Futures Tumble—Home Depot, Axalta Coating Systems, Molina Healthcare In Focus

U.S. stock futures declined on Tuesday after Monday’s sell-off. Futures of major benchmark indices were lower.

The market sentiment remained cautious ahead of the post-shutdown economic data and Nvidia Corp.‘s (NASDAQ:NVDA) highly anticipated earnings report on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.10% and the two-year bond was at 3.57%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool’s projections show markets pricing a 46.4% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting the current interest rates during its December meeting.

Futures	Change (+/-)
Dow Jones	-0.23%
S&P 500	-0.15%
Nasdaq 100	-0.15%
Russell 2000	-0.29%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were lower in premarket on Tuesday. The SPY was down 0.19% at $664.42, while the QQQ declined 0.24% to $602.23, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Stocks In Focus

Axalta Coating Systems

• Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) jumped 10.68% after inking a deal with Akzo Nobel N.V. to combine in an all-stock merger of equals.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that AXTA maintains a stronger price trend over the short and medium terms but a weak trend in the long term, with a moderate quality ranking. Additional performance details are available here.

Molina Healthcare

• Molina Healthcare Inc. (NYSE:MOH) gained 3.05% after announcing a proposed offering of $750 million of Senior Notes due 2031 and Michael Burry reiterating his long stance on the copy.

• MOH maintained a weaker price trend over the short and medium terms, but a strong trend in the long term, with a strong value ranking. Additional performance details, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, are available here.

Avantor

• Avantor Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was up 2.76% as CEO Ligner Emmanuel bought 87,500 shares worth $993,125 on Nov. 17, at $11.35 apiece.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings shows that AVTR maintains a weaker price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor quality ranking. Additional information is available here.

Home Depot

• Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD) fell 0.71% as analysts expect it to report earnings of $3.85 per share on revenue of $41.14 billion before the opening bell.

• It maintained a weaker price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor value ranking. Additional performance details, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, are available here.

Helmerich And Payne

• Helmerich and Payne Inc. (NYSE:HP) tumbled 8.22% after reporting a loss of 1 cent per share for the fourth quarter. However, the company reported quarterly sales of $1.012 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $973.678 million.

• HP maintained a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor growth ranking. Additional performance details, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, are available here.

Cues From Last Session

Materials, financials, and energy stocks recorded the biggest losses on Monday, while communication services and utilities bucked the trend to close higher, setting a negative tone for most S&P 500 sectors.

Index	Performance (+/-)	Value
Nasdaq Composite	-0.84%	22,708.07
S&P 500	-0.82%	6,672.41
Dow Jones	-1.18%	46,590.24
Russell 2000	-1.96%	2,341.38

Insights From Analysts

LPL Financial projects that 2026 will be defined by a “transforming and evolving landscape for markets”. A resilient economy, bolstered by the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” is expected to support corporate profits, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) driving essential efficiency gains.

LPL emphasizes that hitting double-digit earnings growth will be the primary driver for stock performance, noting that “hitting lofty EPS targets will be key in 2026; it won’t be easy” given current valuations.

AI remains a central theme, with LPL stating that “AI’s transformative potential positions it as a cornerstone for equity gains in 2026,” though they caution that stretched valuations remain a top risk.

Regarding monetary policy, LPL views the Federal Reserve’s normalization efforts favorably.

They observe that historically, “stocks have fared well when the Fed has cut rates while stocks were near all-time highs”. While fundamentals are supportive, LPL advises investors to prepare for volatility surrounding the midterm elections and potential trade tensions.

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on Tuesday;

• October’s import price index, scheduled at 8:30 a.m., and industrial production and capacity utilization data, scheduled for 9:15 a.m., can be impacted despite the government reopening, according to the BLS website.
• November’s home builder confidence index and August’s business inventories data will be out by 10:00 a.m., and Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr will speak at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Commodities, Gold, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets

Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 0.52% to hover around $59.55 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.15% to hover around $4,039.22 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $4,381.6 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.06% lower at the 99.5240 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 4.47% lower at $91,327.61 per coin after briefly falling below the $90,000 mark.

Asian markets closed lower on Tuesday as China’s CSI 300, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Japan’s Nikkei 225, Australia’s ASX 200, India’s NIFTY 50, and South Korea’s Kospi indices fell. European markets were also lower in early trade.

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