All three main U.S. equity indexes gapped down at Friday's opening bell to extend a sell-off driven by suspicions about an AI bubble. But the Nasdaq Composite almost immediately bounced into positive territory, as dip-buyers took advantage of weakness in tech-related stocks. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average resumed their uptrends too, though all three faded late and closed below their intraday highs.
Nvidia (NVDA) is arguably the most important of the 30 Dow Jones stocks. But Goldman Sachs (GS) has the biggest dollar figure attached to its ticker, so the financial stock accounts for more in the price-weighted index.
And GS was down 1.8% to $790.76 today. UnitedHealth Group (UNH) was another heavyweight pulling on the Dow, with the health care stock shedding 3.2% to $321.80.
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NVDA, meanwhile, was up 1.8% and rallied as much as 5.8% off its intraday low. The leader of the AI revolution will report fiscal 2026 third-quarter results after the closing bell on Wednesday, the highlight of next week's earnings calendar.
Walmart (WMT, -0.05%), both the biggest retailer and the biggest private employer in the world, will also report earnings next week.
As much as Nvidia's event will excite investors, traders and speculators – and give clues as to whether we're in an AI bubble – markets will value Walmart's perspective on the broader economy amid uncertainty exacerbated by the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
"It appears that the current correction has largely played out," writes Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates, "but we are still left with the weakest November so far since 2008."
Navellier concludes that if Nvidia "gives a good report next week and the Fed actually cuts in December, we still have a solid shot at a strong year-end and will look back to this week as another buying opportunity."
By Friday's closing bell, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 0.1% at 22,900, having registered its biggest intraday reversal since April only to fade into the close. The Nasdaq was down 0.5% for the week.
The broad-based S&P 500 had given back 0.05% to 6,734. The widely followed index held on for a 0.07% gain from last Friday's close. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.7% at 47,147, but Papa Dow was up 0.3% for the five days.
MRK is buying CDTX
Merck (MRK) was flat at $92.93. But one of the best dividend-paying health care stocks to buy boosted its future cash flow prospects with another acquisition to add to its existing portfolio as well as its drug-development pipeline.
Cidara Therapeutics (CDTX), the biotech stock Merck is buying, was up 105.4%. Cidara has an antiviral agent for the prevention of influenza infection in individuals at higher risk of flu complications in Phase 3 trials.
Merck will pay $221.50 per share for CDTX in a $9.2 billion deal that's expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. CDTX closed at $105.99 on Thursday.
“We intend to build on the Cidara team's remarkable progress and are confident that CD388 has the potential to be another important driver of growth through the next decade," Merck CEO Rob Davis said in a statement announcing the deal.
The acquisition further cushions MRK for the loss of patent exclusivity on its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda in 2028, as it follows the October announcement of a $10 billion deal to acquire Verona Pharma and its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease drug.
Economic data is incoming… soon
Release of much of the data on the economic calendar remains subject to delays related to the recently resolved government shutdown. But we will see the minutes from the October Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday. And we will hear from a full set of Fed speakers throughout the week.
And the release of the final University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers results next Friday will offer "anecdotal data" on where we are in the economic cycle.
Hard data, including hiring numbers, is incoming too. As labor economist Guy Berger writes, "In some cases, collection was significantly disrupted, and there will be a permanent hole in the historical time series. In other cases, collection was either ongoing or can be 'made up' after the fact; it's a matter of compiling, processing and publishing that data."
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said it will release September jobs data on Thursday, November 20. But, according to Berger, the first batch of timely labor market data from the BLS will be the November employment situation report in December.
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