Your Evening Briefing

October 17, 2025

US stocks end volatile week on a positive note

Stocks shook off premarket regional banking jitters and bubble fears after comments from President Trump seemed to assuage investors about the risks of trade war escalation with China. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 ended the day up 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively, while the Russell 2000 finished lower for the second session in a row, down 0.6%.

Almost every sector ETF finished in the green, led by consumer staples.

Stocks that moved higher:

EssilorLuxottica surged to a record high after reporting Ray-Ban Meta glasses helped boost revenue growth.

Stocks that moved lower:

AST SpaceMobile dropped after Barclays cut its rating to “underweight” from “overweight.”
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly fell after the bell on Thursday and stayed in the red Friday following comments from Trump that “the fat loss drug” will go down in price.
Oracle dove as analysts voiced concerns about the company’s huge capex plans, though other analysts had different theories on the stock’s plunge.

— Toby Bochan, Managing Editor

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JPMorgan economists estimate that the basket of stocks they use as a rough gauge of AI’s market impact is now worth about 44% of the S&P 500’s total market cap, up from 26% in 2022. Read more.

YouTuber MrBeast has filed a trademark for a financial services venture
On the cusp of 100 billion total views, the world’s top YouTuber appears to be branching into banking.
Meta strikes $30 billion deal with Blue Owl to finance Hyperion data center
Blue Owl and Meta will be co-owners of the massive data center in northeast Louisiana, with Meta keeping a 20% stake in the site.
Hims & Hers CEO sold stock after menopause expansion announcement
CEO Andrew Dudum sold about $11 million in the company’s stock on Thursday, a day after the company’s announcement that it’s expanding into menopause and perimenopause treatments sent the company’s shares to an over two-month high.
Crypto liquidations hit $1.2 billion in 24 hours
Bitcoin alone suffered $458.24 million in liquidations, with the bulk of them — $332.06 million — in long positions.

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