Stocks closed mixed yesterday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the decliners with -1.38%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 led the advancers with a gain of 1.01%.

Wednesday's after-hours earnings by Alphabet, where they posted a negative EPS surprise of -27.89%, and a negative sales surprise of -0.53%, for a quarterly EPS growth rate of -26.13% vs. this time last year, but a sales growth of 27.14%, weighed on tech. Like Meta the week before, they reported a negative free-cash flow of -$9.07 billion vs. expectations for -$2.7B. Big Q3 capex was the culprit. And they said they expect capex to rise significantly next year. They were down -12.64% yesterday.

Amazon, after the close yesterday (another Magnificent 7 stock), reported earnings and posted a negative EPS surprise of -5.97%, and a negative sales surprise of -0.08%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of -3.08%, and a sales growth of 12.08%. Like Alphabet and Meta before them they too swung to a negative free-cash flow (-$7.6B) on rising capex. They also raised capex for next year to $220B from $200B previously. On a positive note, they noted that AI demand was extremely strong, and that AWS was booming with a 37% y/y growth rate, which was their fastest pace in 18 quarters. Nonetheless, they were off -4.25% in the regular session before earnings, and were down another -6% in after-hours trade following earnings.

Intel also reported after the close and posted a positive EPS surprise of 33.33%, and a positive sales surprise of 0.44%. That equated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 126%, and a sales growth of 21.0%. But they guided Q4 revs below the consensus at $15.5B midpoint vs. the street's $17.1B, with EPS expected at 25 cents vs. the consensus for 43 cents. Data center rev was up 78% y/y, with the CFO calling it the strongest data-center growth in 15 years. The CEO also cited "extraordinary demand" for is Xeon server processors. Free-cash flow was positive, and improved at $1.6B. But it was not enough to overcome the weaker outlook. For the record, 25 cents non-GAAP EPS still produces a growth rate of 67%. Nonetheless, they were off -3.62% in the regular session, and dropped another -20% after reporting.

Today we'll hear from another 103 companies on deck to report, including AbbVie, ExxonMobil, and Regeneron to name a few.

Yesterday's Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index didn't help yesterday. Although, it didn't really hurt, as it came in as expected. Regardless, it still shows inflation as being elevated. The headline rate was up 0.5% m/m vs. last month's 0.3% and views for 0.5%. The y/y rate was up 3.6% vs. last month's 3.4% and estimates for 3.6%. The core rate (ex-food & energy) was up 0.3% m/m vs. last month's 0.2% and forecast for 0.3%, while the y/y rate was at 3.1% vs. last month's 3.0% and the consensus for 3.1%.

In other news, the advance estimate for Q3 GDP beat expectations at 3.4% vs. Q2's 2.2% pace and outlook for 3.1%.

Only 1 more trading day left in the month. At the moment, MTD, the Dow is up 2.82%, the S&P is up 0.90%, and the Russell is up 2.23%. The Nasdaq still has some work to do as they're down -2.52%.

But remember, regardless of how the month finishes, Q4 is historically the best quarter for stocks. And I'm expecting a strong finish to the end of the year.

Best,