Stocks Moving Premarket: Hot CPI Greets Wall Street, Liquidia Soars on a Legal Settlement and Bank of America Slides on a $1.2 Billion Penalty
September CPI ran hotter than expected at 3.7% as futures were mixed, Liquidia jumped more than 40% after settling with United Therapeutics, and Bank of America fell on a record Treasury penalty while BlackRock rose. Plus the rest of this week's calendar & what to watch.
U.S. stock futures were mixed Wednesday, Oct. 14, after September inflation came in hotter than economists expected. The Consumer Price Index rose 3.7% from a year earlier versus a 3.6% forecast, and core CPI rose 2.6% versus 2.5%, according to TheStreet and Benzinga. Bank earnings continued: BlackRock gained, while Bank of America and State Street fell. Liquidia led the large gainers after settling its litigation with United Therapeutics.
Economic calendar: today and the coming week
The Fed raised its target range by 25 basis points to 3.75% to 4.00% in September, according to our sources, and the next meeting is Oct. 27 to 28. Before the CPI report, CME FedWatch showed about a 22% chance of a second straight hike in October, Benzinga reported; it did not give updated odds after the data. Markets had been leaning toward a pause, and a hot print can revive hike bets. All times are Eastern, and "—" means the sources did not give a time.
| Day | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Wed, Oct. 14 | 8:30 AM | Consumer Price Index (September), released. Headline +0.6% month over month (as expected) and +3.7% year over year (3.6% expected); core +0.3% (0.2% expected) and +2.6% (2.5% expected) |
| Wed, Oct. 14 | Before the open | Earnings: ASML, Bank of America, BlackRock, Fastenal, Morgan Stanley, Progressive, State Street |
| Wed, Oct. 14 | 10:30 AM / 2:00 PM | Weekly DOE crude inventories; Fed Beige Book |
| Thu, Oct. 15 | 8:30 AM | Producer Price Index (expected +0.5%, core +0.3%), retail sales (expected +0.3%, ex-autos +0.5%), weekly jobless claims (expected 195,000), Philadelphia Fed manufacturing (expected 26.5) and the Empire State survey |
| Thu, Oct. 15 | — | Earnings: Taiwan Semiconductor, Charles Schwab, PNC, U.S. Bancorp; Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is scheduled to speak (one source listed the time as 11:30 PM, which looks like an error) |
| Fri, Oct. 16 | 8:30 AM / 9:15 AM | Import and export prices; industrial production and capacity utilization; monthly options expiration; Travelers and Truist earnings |
| Mon, Oct. 19 | — | Earnings: Fifth Third |
| Tue, Oct. 20 | — | Housing starts and building permits; earnings from GE Aerospace, General Motors, Netflix and Capital One |
Consensus figures come from third-party previews and can change. Our sources listed no events for Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Notable premarket moves
| Company | Ticker | Premarket | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquidia | LQDA | +45.5% | Global settlement with United Therapeutics resolves all pending litigation; shares near $39.03. Investing.com put the gain near 47% and cited a net payment of about $380.7 million, while Investrade cited $175 million, so the payment size is unclear. BTIG upgraded the stock to Buy |
| BlackRock | BLK | +3.9% | Third-quarter adjusted EPS of $15.93 beat the $14.30 consensus and revenue of $7.75 billion beat $7.43 billion |
| Accenture | ACN | +4.0% | Investor Day focused on AI monetization, growth guidance and margin targets |
| Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals | ARWR | +4.9% | Released clinical data for ARO-MAPT, its Alzheimer's candidate |
| Grupo Televisa | TV | +4.5% | Agreed to buy AT&T's Mexican wireless operations for $2 billion in a 50-50 joint venture with Fintech Holdings, as reported by Investing.com |
| GameStop | GME | +1.9% | CEO Ryan Cohen disclosed buying 844,130 shares on Oct. 13 for about $22.8 million at $26.75 to $27.00 each |
| Alibaba | BABA | Nearly +2% | Unveiled its Qwen Glasses N1 AI glasses, starting at 2,999 yuan (about $450) before discounts |
| State Street | STT | -6.4% | Adjusted EPS of $3.69 beat the $3.67 estimate, but revenue of $4.004 billion missed $4.028 billion; shares near $162.75. TheStreet had the drop near 7.6% |
| Bank of America | BAC | -4.3% | Treasury and other regulators announced more than $1.21 billion in penalties, including a record Treasury package tied to anti-money-laundering and sanctions failures; shares near $51.60. Sources ranged from -1.7% to -5.5% |
| Fastenal | FAST | -5.3% | Third-quarter results were in line, but its 2026 capital-spending outlook came in higher than expected; shares near $48.71 |
| Skydance | SKYD | -16.3% | Shares near $7.60; Investrade called the drop largely technical, as warrants tied to its Warner Bros. Discovery deal began trading separately, and said the stock was halted. Benzinga gave no reason |
| Hewlett Packard Enterprise | HPE | -3.8% | No catalyst given; shares near $66.28 after a 2% drop Tuesday amid weakness in tech |
| Dell Technologies | DELL | -3.1% | No catalyst given; shares near $554.80 |
| SK hynix | SKHY | -3.1% | No catalyst given; shares near $152.15 after a 3% drop Tuesday, as reported by Benzinga |
Analyst calls: according to Investrade, Albertsons (ACI) was downgraded to Underperform with a $12 target after fiscal second-quarter results, as the grocer suspended its fiscal 2026 outlook pending a business review, and Brinker International (EAT) was upgraded to Buy with a $255 target on the view that the Chili's turnaround is complete. We could not confirm premarket moves for either. ASML also reported; Investrade said it raised its sales outlook on AI-driven chipmaking demand, and Investing.com put full-year 2026 revenue guidance at 44 billion to 45 billion euros, but Investing.com also reported the shares falling, so we left it out of the table. Premarket quotes can change sharply by the open, and sources do not always agree on the size of a move.
Futures, oil and gold
Readings differ by source and timing. In an early look from Investrade, Dow futures were up 0.33% near 52,106, S&P 500 futures up 0.19% near 7,870 and Nasdaq futures down 0.07% near 30,769, a third straight day of Nasdaq futures weakness. TheStreet called futures mixed. A Benzinga page, with timing unclear, showed the SPY ETF down 0.23%, the QQQ down 0.52% and the DIA down 0.09%.
In early trading, according to TheStreet, West Texas Intermediate crude was near $95.47, up 1.4%, Brent near $106.50, up 0.8%, gold futures near $4,164 an ounce, down 0.3%, and silver near $58.85, down 1.1%. A Goldman Sachs strategist cited by TheStreet said a softer reading would have reinforced the case for a Fed pause, while persistent inflation revives worries about further tightening.
Readers also read
T-Mobile Plunges 13% as SpaceX's Reported $8 Billion Spectrum Deal Rattles AT&T and Verizon
ResearchMicron Is Stalling on Peak Fears, but Memory Prices Haven't Gotten the Memo
ResearchGoogle Gives Gemini Its Own Email Address and a Job: What the Workplace Agent Means for Alphabet Stock
RecapWeek Ahead: Fed Minutes, Five Fed Speakers and the First Big Earnings of Q3 Season
MarketCatalyst LLC is not a registered investment advisor and does not manage client assets. Content on this platform is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment advice, and MarketCatalyst is not a stock-picking or trade-alert service. Trading stocks and options involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Consider your own goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance, and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decision.