On Friday, investors’ attention will focus on the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the U.S. Department of Labor. This will serve as an important basis for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision at its upcoming two-day meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, amid a U.S. government shutdown that has delayed the release of several key economic data reports.
U.S. stocks rose on Thursday’s session (October 23) as investors snapped up technology shares and welcomed a series of upbeat earnings reports, while remaining somewhat cautious ahead of Friday’s inflation data. Crude oil prices continued to climb sharply after the U.S. imposed sanctions on two of Russia’s largest oil companies.
At the close, the S&P 500 gained 0.58% to 6,738.44 points. The Dow Jones rose 144.2 points, or 0.31%, to 46,734.61 points, while the Nasdaq climbed 0.89% to 22,941.8 points.
Technology stocks were the main driver of the rally, with major names such as Nvidia, Broadcom, and Amazon all closing in positive territory. Oracle shares jumped nearly 3%, making it one of the biggest contributors to the market’s overall gains.
Investor sentiment was further boosted after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet next Thursday in South Korea. The announcement eased concerns that the meeting might be canceled amid escalating U.S.–China trade tensions.
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks had fallen following reports that Washington was planning to impose new export restrictions on software to China.
The Q3 2025 earnings season continued to deliver good news for investors as several major companies reported better-than-expected results. Honeywell’s stock, a Dow Jones component, surged nearly 7% after reporting stronger-than-forecast Q3 profits. American Airlines gained 6% after posting a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and issuing an optimistic outlook for the coming period.
Even though Tesla’s Q3 results fell short of expectations, its stock still closed up 2%.
Analysts currently forecast core CPI to rise 3.1% year-over-year in September, unchanged from the previous month and still well above the Fed’s 2% inflation target. However, markets are now almost fully pricing in a Fed rate cut next week and again in December, each by 0.25 percentage points.
In energy markets, Brent crude futures in London jumped $3.40/barrel, or 5.4%, to close at $65.99/barrel. Meanwhile, WTI crude futures in New York climbed $3.29/barrel, or 5.6%, to $61.79/barrel.
This marks the strongest daily gain for both benchmarks since mid-June, with oil prices hitting a two-week high after President Trump sanctioned Russia’s Rosneft and Lukoil—a move prompting energy firms in China and India to consider reducing Russian oil imports.
“The U.S. sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil represent a major escalation targeting Russia’s energy sector and could be a big enough shock to push the global oil market into undersupply next year,”
said David Oxley, economist at Capital Economics, in an interview with Reuters.
In 2024, Russia was the world’s second-largest crude oil producer, behind only the United States in output.
Sources told Reuters that China’s major state-owned oil companies have stopped buying seaborne Russian crude from the two sanctioned firms.
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