Stock market live Friday: Dow falls 150, worst weekly rout since March, Apple & Amazon shed 5%

This week's sell-off took the S&P 500 below its July 31 close, a signal that former vice president Joe Biden could be the next president.

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA, said the market is trading as if Biden is going to win. There has only been one time that an incumbent president won when the market was lower between July 31 and election day. That was President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, when the S&P was down 7.7%.

The S&P 500 closed at 3,269 Friday, just below its July 31 close of 3,271. Of course, the election is not until Tuesday, so that could change.

"The presidential predictor, which has been successful 88% of the time since 1944, now points to but does not guarantee a Biden victory," said Stovall. —Patti Domm

• Dow closed down 0.59% for its fifth negative day in six
• Dow closed down 6.47% this week for its worst week since March 20 when the Dow lost 17.3%
• Dow closed down 4.61% for its worst month since March when the Dow lost 13.74%
• Dow is down 7.14% this year
• Dow is 10.37% below its intraday all-time high of 29,568.57 from Feb. 12
• S&P 500 closed down 1.21% for its fourth negative day in five
• S&P closed down 5.64% this week for its worst week since March 20 when the S&P lost 14.98%
• S&P closed down 2.77% this month for its second-straight negative month
• Nasdaq closed down 2.45% for its second negative day in three
• Nasdaq closed down 5.51% this week for its worst week since March 20 when the Nasdaq lost 12.64%
• Nasdaq closed down 2.29% this month for its second-straight negative month
• Nasdaq is up 21.61% this year
• Nine out of 11 sectors were negative Friday led by consumer discretionary, which fell 3%. — Gina Francolla

The blue-chip Dow fell about 150 points to end Friday's session, extending this week's losses to more than 6% and posting its worst weekly rout since March. The Dow dropped more than 500 points at its session low. The S&P 500 fell 1.2%, while the Nasdaq slid 2.5%. Apple, Amazon and Facebook led the market decline, falling at least 5% each after their quarterly earnings reports.— Yun Li

• Gold futures settled up 0.64% at $1,879.9 per ounce on Friday
• Gold closed down 1.33% this week for its first three-week losing streak since Sept. 13, 2019
• Gold closed down 0.82% this month for its first three-month losing streak since April 2019.— Gina Francolla
  

The earnings season has kicked into full gear, and 86% of S&P 500 companies have reported a positive surprise on their third-quarter profit, according to FactSet. That marks the highest earnings beat rate since FactSet began tracking this metric in 2008. The blended S&P 500 earnings declined 9.8% for the third quarter, the third largest year-over-year drop since the third quarter of 2009, according to FactSet. — Yun Li

The Nasdaq Composite accelerated losses in afternoon trading, dragged lower by shares of the biggest technology companies. The index slid more than 3% to hit a session low of 10,836.19. — Pippa Stevens

Shares of cruise companies moved sharply higher after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the current no-sail order would expire on Oct. 31 and be replaced by a conditional-sail order. The shift would allow cruise companies to resume voyages if they can show that their health protocols are effective. Shares of Royal Caribbean rose by more than 5%, while Norwegian jumped over 6% and Carnival surged nearly 9%. — Jesse Pound

A number of stocks were on the move in midday trading following a slew of earnings, including from tech giants Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet. Twitter sank more than 20% on slowing using growth, while Exxon reported its third straight quarter of losses. Newell Brands and AbbVie were each bright spots, trading in the green following quarterly results.

Read more on stocks on the move here. — Pippa Stevens

Stock investors look to be heading for the hills, but so do investors in bonds, usually the bastion of strength and safety during risk-off moments.

Bond strategists say it's month end and it's time for asset re-allocation trades, but on the surface it doesn't look like investors are doing much shifting from bonds to stocks or vice versa.

"Everything tells you the Treasury market should be stable, if not rallying," said National Alliance's Andy Brenner. Yields move opposite price, and the 10-year yield has risen to 0.85%, just below its recent high of 0.87%.

"With the S&P 500 down 1.6%, you're just getting close to levels that should elicit some bounce in Treasurys. Risk parody trades are just not working, " said Brenner.

Ian Lyngen of BMO says it's the pre-election trade in the bond market, where investors expect a post-election stimulus package. The market is anticipating a surge in new debt, particularly if Democrats win the White House and Senate. That means yields would go higher.

But if the election outcome is unclear or contested, Lyngen says to look for yieldto reverse to much lower levels.

Better than expected data, including Friday's consumer sentiment, is also supportive of higher yields.

-- Patti Domm

Shares of payments company Square fell more than 8% on Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported that Credit Karma is considering selling its tax preparation business to Square, according to people familiar with the matter. Credit Karma is being in the middle of a $7.1 billion sale to Intuit, the maker of TurboTax. The report said the sale to Square could help fend off antitrust issues in the Intuit deal. — Maggie Fitzgerald

The market sell-off gained steam in morning trading Friday with the Dow dropping 450 points. The 30-stock average has fallen 7.5% this week, on track to post its worst week since March. The S&P 500 last traded 1.8% lower, bringing its week-to-date losses to more than 6%. The Nasdaq slid 2.5%, as Apple and Amazon lost 5.6% and 4.2%, respectively. — Yun Li

Bank of America's Stephen Suttmeier said 3,209 will be a key level of support for the market, as it could signal a rebound is on the horizon or further selling.

"If the SPX holds above this big support, the potential builds for a bullish triangle that if completed on a decisive breakout above 3525-3550 would favor a continued uptrend to 3830-3860," Suttmeier, the bank's technical research strategist, wrote in a note.

The S&P 500 broke above 3,500 for the first time earlier this year. At one point, the broader-market index traded above 3,580. The S&P 500 traded more than 8% below its all-time high of 3,588.11 on Friday. The index hasn't traded below 3,209 since late July.

Suttmeier also noted that if the S&P 500 breaks below the 3,209 mark, "a more sinister double top" pattern could form.  "The double top scenario would not rule out a decline to the pattern counts at 2870-2830 or just over a 50% retracement of the March-October 2020 rally." —Fred Imbert, Michael Bloom

Exxon and Chevron, the U.S.' largest integrated oil companies, each recorded a loss during the third quarter as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hammer operations.

Exxon lost 18 cents per share on an adjusted basis, which was smaller than the 25-cent per share loss expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. Revenue also topped expectations, although it was down nearly 30% year over year. Shares were down 1.4% in early trading.

Meanwhile Chevron earned 11 cents per share on an adjusted basis following aggressive cost-cutting strategies, although revenue did miss estimates. Shares declined 0.4% in early trading. — Pippa Stevens

Shares of Under Armour jumped 8% in morning trading Friday after the retailer reported earnings and sales that topped estimates. CEO Patrik Frisk cited higher demand for the athletic apparel maker's products, especially in North America, for the better-than-expected performance. Under Armour also offered Wall Street a more upbeat outlook for 2020: It now expects full-year revenue to be down by a high-teen percentage rate. — Lauren Thomas, Yun Li

U.S. equities opened in the negative territory on Friday, on pace for their worst week in months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 119 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively. — Maggie Fitzgerald

• Jefferies upgraded Six Flags to buy from hold.
• JPMorgan upgraded Spirit to overweight from neutral.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Papa John's to outperform from perform.
• Gordon Haskett upgraded Cheesecake Factory to buy from accumulate.
• Compass Point upgraded Callaway Golf to buy from neutral.
• Stifel upgraded Carvana to buy from hold.
• Deutsche Bank added a catalyst call buy idea on Baxter.
• Guggenheim upgraded Kraft Heinz to buy from neutral.
• Piper Sandler raised its price target on Netflix to $643 from $630.

Pro subscribers can read more here. - Michael Bloom

Alphabet shares popped more than 6% in the premarket after the search giant posted quarterly results that easily beat Wall Street's forecasts. The company posted a profit of $16.40 per share on revenue of $46.17 billion. Analysts expected earnings per share of $11.29 on revenue of $42.90 per share, according to Refinitiv. Alphabet's results were driven in large part by strong advertising revenue across the board. —Fred Imbert, Jennifer Elias

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday as negotiatons on another stimulus package appear to be at a standstill. Mnuchin criticized a letter that Pelosi sent to his office and to the media, calling it a "political stunt."

"Your ALL OR NONE approach is hurting hard-working Americans who need help NOW," Mnuchin wrote. — Jesse Pound

U.S. consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, topped estimates for September. The Commerce Department said on Friday that spending rose 1.4% last month, while analysts forecast growth of 1%, according to Refinitiv. Consumer spending rose 1% in August. Despite the strong number, an uptick in Covid-19 cases could temper spending in the fourth quarter. — Maggie Fitzgerald

Facebook dipped 0.3% in premarket trading after the company said its user base in the U.S. and Canada declined. The company said daily active users between the two countries fell to 196 million from 198 million a quarter earlier. To be sure, Facebook reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the third quarter as average revenue per user — a key metric for the social media giant — topped analyst expectations. —Fred Imbert, Salvador Rodriguez

Shares of Amazon ticked down 2% in premarket trading despite blowing past analyst expectations for its quarterly earnings. The e-commerce giant reported earnings $12.37 per share on revenue of $96.15 billion. Wall Street forecast earnings of $7.41 per share on revenue of $92.70 billion, according to Refinitiv. Earnings beat every estimate on Wall Street.

Revenue forecast for the fourth quarter was strong, but the company also issued a wide profit guidance range for the fourth quarter due to higher costs from the coronavirus pandemic. — Maggie Fitzgerald

Twitter shares traded more than 16% lower after the social media company reported disappointing user-growth numbers. The company said it grew its monetizable daily active users (mDAU) base by 1 million to 187 million. Analysts polled by FactSet expected that user base to grow to 195 million. Twitter also warned that the upcoming U.S. presidential election makes advertiser behavior "hard to predict." — Fred Imbert, Lauren Feiner

Shares of tech giant Apple dropped more than 4% in the premarket after the company said iPhone sales dropped 20.7% during its fiscal fourth quarter. Apple's revenue from its services business, iPads and Mac computers were strong, but not enough to make up for the iPhone revenue decline.

Apple also refrained from issuing guidance for the current quarter.

"If you look at the case count, the case counts are climbing in Western Europe. They're climbing in the United States. And so there's still a sufficient level of uncertainty out there… we don't believe that's an environment to guide into," Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC's Josh Lipton. —Fred Imbert, Kif Leswing

U.S. stock futures traded lower on Friday as traders pored over the latest quarterly numbers from some of the major tech companies. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 204 points, or 0.8%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.7% and 1.1%, respectively.

Apple and Amazon both fell in the premarket along with Twitter. Alphabet bucked the negative trend for Big Tech, rising more than 6%.

Entering the session, stocks were on their way to posting sharp weekly losses. The Dow was down nearly 6% week to date, on pace for its worst weekly loss since March. The S&P 500 is off by 4.5% so far this week and the Nasdaq is down 3.1%. —Fred Imbert