Benzinga·2025-11-18 10:28Market Overview - U.S. stock futures declined on Tuesday following a sell-off on Monday, with major benchmark indices showing lower futures [1] - Market sentiment remains cautious ahead of post-shutdown economic data and Nvidia Corp.'s earnings report [1] - The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.10%, while the two-year bond was at 3.57% [2] - The CME Group's FedWatch tool indicates a 46.4% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in December [2] Index Performance - Dow Jones futures decreased by 0.23%, S&P 500 by 0.15%, Nasdaq 100 by 0.15%, and Russell 2000 by 0.29% [2] - The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was down 0.19% at $664.42, and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) declined 0.24% to $602.23 in premarket trading [2] Stocks in Focus - Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA) surged 10.68% after announcing an all-stock merger with Akzo Nobel N.V. [6] - Molina Healthcare (MOH) rose 3.05% following a proposed offering of $750 million in Senior Notes and support from investor Michael Burry [6] - Avantor Inc. (AVTR) increased by 2.76% as CEO Ligner Emmanuel purchased shares worth $993,125 [6] - Home Depot (HD) fell 0.71% with expected earnings of $3.85 per share on revenue of $41.14 billion [6] - Helmerich and Payne Inc. (HP) dropped 8.22% despite reporting quarterly sales of $1.012 billion, exceeding analyst estimates [14] Sector Performance - Materials, financials, and energy sectors experienced the largest losses on Monday, while communication services and utilities closed higher [8] Economic Insights - LPL Financial anticipates a transforming market landscape in 2026, driven by a resilient economy and AI efficiency gains [10] - The firm emphasizes that achieving double-digit earnings growth will be crucial for stock performance [11] - Historical trends suggest stocks perform well when the Fed cuts rates near all-time highs, although current valuations pose risks [12]