Daily US Equity Opening News: 16th October 2026: TSLA gains on Roadster reveal; NFLX slips as Content Chief to leave; TRV earnings underwhelm

• DAY AHEAD: The US calendar sees the release of Manufacturing & Industrial Production for September, the weekly Baker Hughes rig count report, and TIC flows at the US cash close.

ES +0.1% NQ -0.2% RTY +0.1%

• TSLA +3.3%: Revealed its Roadster can hit 0–60 mph in under 1 second and use thrusters to land after a ramp jump, w/ production set for 2028
• NFLX -3.6%: Chief content officer to leave
• VRNS +2.8%: To be acquired by Proofpoint for $49.75/sh
• AA +1.6%: Earnings beat
• TRV -3.0%: Earnings beat, although Personal Insurance's declined w/ net premiums written above expected
• MSTR -2.9%: MSCI’s new rules reportedly could kick Strategy out of its indexes
• WDAY -0.6%: Downgraded at KeyBanc to Sector Weight from Overweight
• ECHO +1.9%: Upgraded at JPM to Overweight from Underweight

TECH

• Anthropic - Some investors dialled back Anthropic valuation expectations amid disappointing results and a market sell-off, and were said to have discussed a USD 1.5tln valuation vs. the previously expected ~USD 2.0tln following last night's meeting, according to Reuters, citing sources. Further, Anthropic plans to file with the SEC on October 26th for its blockbuster IPO, in hopes of going public in mid-November, according to IFR, citing a person familiar with the matter. Anthropic received a previously unreported double-B junk credit rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency in June, according to documents seen by the FT, suggesting the AI lab is close to reaching investment grade.
• Apple (AAPL) - Apple’s iPhone Duo sold out minutes after pre-orders opened, according to Apple Insider, with delivery dates slipping to January 25. Apple's AI technology has been approved for launch in China, according to DigiTimes.
• Interactive Brokers (IBKR) - Reported Q3 adj. EPS of USD 0.67 (exp. 0.67) and Q3 revenue of USD 1.91bln (exp. 1.86bln). Raised its quarterly dividend to USD 0.15/shr (prev. USD 0.0875).
• Varonis (VRNS) - Agreed to be acquired by Thoma Bravo-backed Proofpoint in an all-cash deal valued at about USD 6.3bln, or USD 49.75/shr. The board-approved deal is expected to close in H1 2027, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.
• Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia's RTX Spark laptops launched globally starting at USD 2,599.
• Strategy (MSTR) - MSCI finalised rules, first proposed in August, that make companies mainly holding investments rather than operating a real business ineligible for its Global Investable Market Indexes, which could see bitcoin holders Strategy and Metaplanet removed. The final list of affected firms is due November 11th, with the change taking effect at the close on November 30th.
• Workday (WDAY) - Downgraded at KeyBanc to Sector Weight from Overweight. The broker said its aggressive AI investment could lift reiterated FY28 targets, but any meaningful contribution is still some way off, while HRIT budgets may lag more immediate enterprise AI priorities.

COMMUNICATIONS

• Google (GOOG) - Warned that suspected China-linked hackers could exploit a BeyondTrust flaw.
• Netflix (NFLX) - Chief content officer Bela Bajaria, an executive at the company since 2016, is leaving and told her team on Thursday afternoon, with former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice set to succeed her, according to Puck's Matthew Belloni, citing two sources.
• EchoStar (ECHO) - Upgraded at JPMorgan to Overweight from Underweight with a USD 144 PT. The broker called its 40% discount to estimated NAV unwarranted after the USD 43bln spectrum sale to AT&T and SpaceX de-risked the balance sheet, and sees further upside from SpaceX's share price, more spectrum monetisation and earlier-than-expected buybacks.

CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY

• Tesla (TSLA) - Tesla revealed that the Roadster uses thrusters to land after a ramp jump and can accelerate 0–60 mph in less than 1 second. It will enter production in 2028. Separately, Tesla vice president of energy and charging Mike Snyder stepped down as Tesla pivots to AI, according to WSJ.
• Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) - The UK CMA said that Amazon's AWS and Microsoft can do more to address barriers in cloud services. It added that it would keep the possibility of launching a full strategic market status investigation into the sector under review.
• Nike (NKE) - Moody's changed Nike's outlook to negative while affirming its A2 rating; the change reflects Nike's longer-than-previously-anticipated turnaround.

FINANCIALS

• Travelers (TRV) - Reported Q3 adj. EPS of USD 9.18 (exp. 7.39) and Q3 revenue of USD 12.4bln (exp. 11.4bln). Q3 net premiums written were USD 11.48bln (exp. 11.40bln) and Q3 catastrophe losses were USD 538mln (exp. 695mln). Personal Insurance fell 7% to 4.4bln.
• Truist Financial (TFC) - Reported Q3 EPS of USD 1.16 (exp. 1.14), Q3 adj. revenue of USD 5.3bln (exp. 5.35bln) and Q3 net interest income of USD 3.66bln (exp. 3.70bln). Sees Q4 revenue of USD 5.35bln (exp. 5.30bln) and Q4 noninterest expense +2.5%. Separately, the company is to sell USD 7.7bln of unsecured consumer loans, representing substantially all assets of its unsecured lending platform LightStream, to Carlyle.
• M&T Bank (MTB) - Reported Q3 adj. EPS of USD 5.08 (exp. 4.93), Q3 net interest income of USD 1.79bln (exp. 1.82bln) and Q3 net income of USD 732mln (exp. 726.6mln). Sees Q4 net interest income of USD 1.83-1.85bln and Q4 average loans of USD 145-146bln (exp. 145.7bln).
• Citizens Financial Group (CFG) - Reported Q3 EPS of USD 1.41 (exp. 1.39) and Q3 revenue of USD 2.32bln (exp. 2.34bln). Increased its share buyback to USD 1.95bln and raised its quarterly dividend to USD 0.52 (prev. USD 0.46).
• Charles Schwab (SCHW) - CEO said the brokerage is seeing record interest in fixed income and is blocking unauthorised AI agents.
• Regions Financial (RF) - Reported Q3 adj. EPS of USD 0.73 (exp. 0.66) and Q3 net income of USD 611mln (exp. 562.7mln).
• Circle (CRCL) - Is expanding into 40 emerging and developing countries. CEO Jeremy Allaire told Reuters that blockchain is moving from the early-adopter phase into mainstream scaling, citing rising organic demand for stablecoins and digital payments in regions including Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
• Marqeta (MQ), Coinbase (COIN) - Companies will enable stablecoin-backed card payments.

INDUSTRIALS

• SpaceX (SPCX) - CEO Musk suggested the company will follow Anthropic's approach to external safety assessors.
• J.B. Hunt (JBHT) - Reported Q3 EPS of USD 1.82 (exp. 1.81) and Q3 revenue of USD 3.68bln (exp. 3.59bln). Q3 Intermodal revenue rose 20% Y/Y to USD 1.83bln on an 8% increase in volume and an 11% increase in gross revenue per load, with Eastern network loads up 18%. Q3 Dedicated Contract Services revenue rose 11% Y/Y to USD 960mln, driven by a 10% improvement in productivity. The company said intermodal demand was strong throughout the quarter.

MATERIALS

• Alcoa (AA) - Reported Q3 adj. EPS of USD 1.82 (exp. 1.51) and Q3 revenue of USD 3.70bln (exp. 3.77bln). Expects Q4 Alumina segment adjusted EBITDA to be flat sequentially, while the Aluminum segment faces about USD 30mln of headwinds from higher raw material and maintenance costs, and alumina costs. It reaffirmed its 2026 Alumina production and shipment outlook of 9.5–9.6mln and 11.5–11.6mln metric tons, and Aluminum production and shipments of 2.4–2.6mln and 2.6–2.8mln metric tons, respectively.

ENERGY

• ExxonMobil (XOM) - Said margin changes will cut Q3 chemical products earnings by USD 0.6 bln Q/Q.