The S&P 500 rose 0.60% on Tuesday 27 October. The sharpest moves came in single stocks and sectors rather than the index. Refiners had the day's biggest new story, while the AI hardware names that sold off from 8 October bounced again. Weekly figures below run from the 20 October close.
Refiners Reprice
A sector-wide margin repricing is new today. VLO (-9.24%) closed at $387.34 on 1.7x average volume, MPC (-7.36%) at $435.98 and PSX (-7.03%) at $268.53. WTI crude fell 1.8% to just under $100 a barrel on hopes of diplomatic progress in the Middle East, and refiners fell about three times as hard as the fuels they sell. Valero's 22 October results do not explain the drop, and a Freedom Broker downgrade to Sell arrived the same day. Profit-taking is the other candidate, since the three stocks are up between 110% and 167% this year. Phillips 66 reports on 28 October, which gives the first company-level read on margins.
AI Hardware Rebound
The slide that began on 8 October continued to bounce. BE (+7.15%) closed at $218.50 for a second straight gain after analyst target raises and a Morgan Stanley note on the US AI data-centre power gap. It remains 24.98% below its level 20 sessions ago, and the negative free cash flow from its results is unresolved. WDC (+6.95%) closed at $380.88, still 16.01% under its close of 20 sessions ago, with an Evercore ISI Outperform reiteration on the morning of the move.
DELL (+7.47%) closed at $501.96 on 0.79x average volume, helped by a cybersecurity product release and an AI rally that Benzinga tied to an Anthropic IPO filing. SMCI (+7.34%) closed at $35.09 after Reuters, citing two sources, reported that Argentum AI, a cloud provider Super Micro backs, is in advanced talks on a $5bn private-credit package to buy GPUs. The company has not confirmed it, and the financing belongs to Argentum.
FLEX (+8.26%) closed at $83.35 on 3.04x average volume, after a 26.78% fall over 20 sessions. BofA kept its Buy rating and cut its target to $150, though that explains only part of the gain. Results arrive before the open on 28 October.
Cybersecurity Extends
This carries on from last week's rebound, which started with the Evercore ISI channel survey. CRWD (+17.88% wk) closed at $268.02 and PANW (+18.05% wk) at $401.70, with Palo Alto adding 2.88% on Tuesday and no catalyst identified for it. Microsoft slipped 0.10% over the same period, so the money is going to security vendors specifically. CrowdStrike trades at a forward P/E of 166.3 ahead of its 1 December report. Palo Alto sits slightly above the consensus targets of $398.55 and $400.15, and reports on 19 November.
Results and Weekly Winners
Four reporters moved sharply on third-quarter numbers. XYL (-14.21%) closed at $92.86, near its 52-week low, after adjusted EPS of $1.44 missed by a cent and guidance fell to $5.40 to $5.45 from $5.55 to $5.70. Management cited project delays and cautious customer spending. BA (-10.69%) closed at $168.18 on 6.71x average volume, a new 52-week low. The adjusted loss of 34c compared with 21c expected, and the 2026 737 delivery target will be missed.
On the other side, PNR (+12.80%) closed at $62.29 after adjusted EPS of $1.18 beat $1.07 and the 2026 sales forecast rose, though the shares are still down 40.06% this year. CDNS (+6.49%) closed at $343.08 on revenue of $1.63bn, a record $8.2bn backlog and a $2.5bn buyback addition.
Last week's earnings winners held their levels. ALLE (+14.98% wk) closed at $180.55, a 52-week high. CRL (+13.75% wk) closed at $358.84, also a high, and the target raises behind its 21 October jump rest on one secondary source. LMT (+13.54% wk) fell 1.92% on Tuesday with no company news, and the F-35 framework still needs congressional authority.
Single-Stock Moves
FICO (-13.50% wk) closed at $691.74, extending Monday's 13.15% fall that followed its decision to hold the $10 mortgage score price. Wells Fargo downgraded the stock, and FHFA Director Bill Pulte said more action is coming this week. Results are due on 4 November.
MRNA (-14.09% wk) closed at $207.97 after a 4.59% gain on lighter volume. Nearly all of the weekly loss dates from 22 October, when leaked Phase 3 melanoma data showed a 0.58 hazard ratio against the 0.51 investors anchored on.
RDDT (-12.33% wk) closed at $136.46 with no new company event. Worries over guidance, logged-in user growth and Google referrals carried over, and results arrive after the close on 29 October.
What to watch
- 28 October: Flex (FLEX) and Phillips 66 (PSX) report.
- 29 October: Reddit (RDDT) reports after the close.
- 3 November: Super Micro (SMCI) and Marathon Petroleum (MPC) report.
- 4 November: Charles River (CRL) and Fair Isaac (FICO) report.
- 19 November: Palo Alto Networks (PANW) reports.
- 27 November: Dell (DELL) reports.
- 1 December: CrowdStrike (CRWD) reports.
- February 2027: Bloom Energy (BE) reports.