Another wild week in the markets finished strong today, with huge stock moves in both the tech and banking industries.

Before clocking out for the long weekend (yes, it’s long for us too this time, thanks for unchaining us from our desks, Neal ), take a look at some of the biggest announcements from the final days of the week.

• TSLA: If the AI you fear is going to take your job is the same machine learning driving Tesla’s new Cybercab, you shouldn’t be too worried yet. Shares of the EV-maker dropped 8.78% after its highly anticipated self-driving(ish) car failed to impress. Shares of Uber and Lyft rose 10.81% and 9.59%, respectively, on the news, given they haven’t been put out to pasture by AI quite yet.
• JPM: Big banks were able to overcome high interest rate pressure, surprising analysts to the upside. JPMorgan shares jumped 4.44% after its third-quarter profit and revenue blew past expectations, largely due to the company generating more interest income than projected by analysts. Crucially, net interest income, which measures profits from loan-making, jumped 3% to $23.5 billion, beating estimates of $22.73 billion. However, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned that geopolitical risks are “treacherous and getting worse,” indicating choppy seas ahead.
• WFC: Shares of Wells Fargo rose 5.61% today, despite a slight earnings miss. Its net interest income, the profitability metric for loan making, decreased 11% year over year, coming in at $11.69 billion, due to the higher costs that come from more customers picking higher-yielding deposits. For full-year guidance, the bank projected net interest income to be down 9% from 2023’s level, about in-line with expectations.

Now that you have absorbed this crucial information, we give you permission to log off for the weekend. Happy Friday!

🟢 What’s up

• Fastenal climbed 9.76% after the construction and hardware equipment manufacturer posted stronger-than-expected revenue last quarter.
• Symbotic popped 8.80% on news of a deal with the Walmart division of Mexico and Central America for its AI-powered robots to help with warehouse automation.
• Affirm soared 12.07% after Wells Fargo analysts upgraded the buy now, pay later company thanks to its partnership with Apple Pay.
• Ferrari raced 3.54% higher thanks to an upgrade from JPMorgan analysts, citing the carmaker’s EV division and hopes of a Chinese market recovery.

What’s down

• Stellantis continued to tumble today, falling another 2.22% after the carmaker announced its CEO will step down in early 2026.
• A.O. Smith probably doesn’t ring a bell, but there’s a good chance they made the water heater in your basement. Unfortunately, they’re not selling too many these days, and shares sank 6.25% after the company cut its full-year outlook.

We’re pleased to bring you a guest post from our good friend Phil Rosen, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Opening Bell Daily, an independent financial news outlet. You can sign up for his free morning newsletter here.

Who’s ready to party?

The stock market’s bull run officially turns two on Saturday. For the record, the S&P 500 is up 61% since October 12, 2022, when the index hit its bear-market bottom at 3,577.03.

We’re about halfway through the median bull market of about 46 months, according to JPMorgan. So if this ends up being a typical upswing, investors have about 22 months of runway left.

Then again, there’s reason to believe things are going better than usual. Over the last two years, the benchmark index has recovered from sharp pullbacks on its way to scores of record highs.

In fact, about one in five trading days in 2024 have brought a new all-time close.

Not for nothing, equities have also proven resilient enough to keep climbing through the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive rate-hiking cycle in decades.

The broad cooldown in inflation helped keep investors enthused, too.

Barring a 40% crash before January, the S&P 500 is on pace to notch its second consecutive year of at least a 20% gain for the first time since 1998, according to Dow Jones data.

Will this bull market turn three years old?

Now, let’s be clear: Florida’s hurricanes, an intensifying Middle East conflict, and the fast-approaching presidential election all pose a risk for investors. At the same time, the S&P 500’s forward price-to-earnings ratio — a measure that compares the price of a company to its future earnings estimates — has inched closer to “overvalued” territory this year.

In October 2022, the gauge hovered at 15. As the Yardeni Research team pointed out in a note Wednesday, that’s since jumped to 21.6 — spitting distance to the 25.5 seen in 1999 when the Dot-Com Bubble was still expanding.

That said, the stock market does appear to be getting less top-heavy. Wall Street considers a broadening market to be a healthier market.

• The equal-weighted S&P 500 outperformed the cap-weighted version in the third quarter.
• The Magnificent Seven’s influence on the index is shrinking.
• 85% of S&P 500 companies are in the green compared to a year ago.

“How long this bull will last is anyone’s guess, but we remain in the camp that looking out the next six to nine months we simply don’t see any reason to expect a recession or end of the bull market,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for Carson Group. “Will it last another three years? All we will say there is the odds are better than many expect.”—PR

We love bringing you a recap of the market’s biggest moves at the end of every trading day, but if you want to add some investing info to your mornings as well, we’d highly recommend Phil’s work at Opening Bell Daily.

• PPI, CPI’s older, more professional brother, showed that inflation is still slowly but surely falling.
• Saudi Arabia’s massive sovereign wealth fund allocated $5.2 billion in green bonds through mid-2024, giving environmentally friendly investments a much-needed boost.
• Higher-risk investment strategies don’t always yield higher returns, which is why keeping more of your portfolio in cash may be better in the long run.
• “Too much hair” is not how most IPOs would be described, but AI infrastructure startup Cerebras’ attempts to go public may be too hairy for Wall Street.
• Your air conditioning bill this summer might have been red-hot, but last year’s warm winter means that heating with natural gas this year will be cheap.
• Mo’ money, no mo’ problems: New research reveals that more money actually does make you happier, even if you’re already rich. What a shocking revelation.

Monday is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, so the bond market is closed. While the stock market is still open, enough investors want a three-day weekend that there are no major earnings announcements or economic reports.

In fact, compared to this week, next week is a real snooze on the data front. Tuesday and Wednesday don’t deliver any economic announcements that will move the needle, though Thursday’s a treasure trove of reports, including initial jobless claims, US retail sales, and the Home Builder Confidence Index. Friday wraps things up with more real estate info, including housing starts and building permits.

But while it’s a drought on the economic data side, we’ve got a tidal wave of earnings reports as the season kicks off in earnest.

Tuesday: UnitedHealth Group, Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Charles Schwab, Citigroup, State Street, Albertsons, Walgreens Boots Alliance, United Airlines.

Wednesday: Morgan Stanley, Abbott Laboratories, ASML Holding, U.S. Bancorp, Citizens Bank, CSX, Kinder Morgan, Discover Financial Services, Equifax, PPG Industries, Alcoa.

Thursday: Blackstone, Netflix, Intuitive Surgical, Elevance Health, Truist, M&T Bank.

Friday: Procter & Gamble, American Express, Schlumberger, Fifth Third Bancorp, Ally Financial.

Morning Brew is closed on Monday, but don’t worry, we’ve prepared a special earnings season edition of Brew Markets ready to blow your minds. Until then, have a great weekend!—The Brew Markets Team