U.S. stocks climbed Friday for their fifth advance in seven sessions. The morning GDP report arrived, and buyers never gave up the lead.

The president said the U.S. would buy Russian diesel in a Truth Social post, a spit in the face of Ukrainians fighting for their lives for the past five years. The 13M barrels or so discussed would help keep the lights on for less than four days based on how much diesel we suck down.

Secretary of beer War Hegseth said he wants to livestream the execution of the Fort Hood mass shooter, an idea that reminds me of ISIS beheading videos. Disgusting and un-American.

U.S. stocks rose Friday and the S&P 500 closed at 7,811.54, up 0.6%. The Dow gained 0.8% to 51,654.95, $QQQ and $IWM each added 0.5%, and the VIX fell 3.7% to 14.84. Nine of 11 sectors finished green. Real Estate led at +1.9% and Health Care followed at +1.6%. Communication Services was the weak spot at −1.5%, with Energy down 0.2%.

WSJ reported stocks rose as Iran escalation fears eased, and Bloomberg said Trump told reporters the U.S. won’t attack Iran before the midterms. $GLD gained 1.6%, $TLT added 0.1%, and bitcoin rose 1.1% to about $82,500. Bloomberg reported Hurricane Isaias shut nearly three-quarters of Gulf oil output, and $USO finished up 0.4%.

Stocktwits spent the afternoon on the SpaceX spectrum deal and vaccines. The wireless carriers took their worst daily drops in more than a decade, according to MarketWatch. $ASTS fell with them, while $MRNA and $NVAX led the vaccine rally. The Top 5 below is a point-in-time snapshot, not an all-day ranking.

Today's Briefing:

SpaceX agreed Thursday to buy Grain Management's nationwide 800 MHz spectrum, the low-band airwaves that carry signal through walls. The three biggest U.S. wireless carriers spent Friday paying for it.

The RIP: $TMUS ( ▼ 13.27% ) fell 13.3% to $148.58, $T dropped 9.8% to $22.18 on 149.8M shares, and $VZ sank 8.7% to $41.65. $ASTS ( ▼ 10.48% ) , a space cell provider, also fell.

The deal covers up to 14 MHz of paired spectrum and needs FCC approval. Terms weren't disclosed, though the Wall Street Journal reported SpaceX will pay about $8B in cash. SpaceX said the spectrum fills a key gap for Starlink Mobile to become a major U.S. carrier. 📡

T-Mobile is the company that sold these licenses to Grain, for $2.9B in cash plus 600 MHz spectrum. Now it gets a rival holding them, for a higher price.

Citi analyst Michael Rollins told clients to buy the dip, according to Barron's, arguing longer phone upgrade cycles and lower churn should keep supporting carrier earnings and dividends. Building a network that competes with the big three takes years and a lot of infrastructure.

$VZ ticker talk is split between dividend dip buyers and disruption worriers ->

The carriers got the bad news. The companies that rent them space on cell towers got the same news and went the other way.

The RIP: $CCI jumped 15.6% to $79.64, $AMT rose 9.3% to $182.24, and $SBAC gained 7.3% to $182.49.

The logic is a new tenant. SpaceX plans a terrestrial mobile network to go with Starlink's satellite service after agreeing to buy Grain Management's 800 MHz spectrum. A network on the ground needs places to put antennas, and these three own a lot of them. 🗼

$CCI ( ▲ 15.61% ) had its biggest one-day gain since November 2008, according to Barron's, citing Dow Jones Market Data. The stock is up 15% on the week, its best since March 2009.

Humana got a much better report card from Medicare, and shareholders paid up for it.

The RIP: $HUM rose 11.6% to $431.87 on 5.0M shares. It opened at $450.49, touched $456.50, and gave some of that back.

Humana said 95% of its Medicare Advantage members are now in plans rated four stars or higher for 2027, up from 20% for 2026. Another 42% sit in 4.5-star plans. 🌟

Stars decide how much bonus money the government pays. Humana cut its full-year outlook in July after its 2026 ratings slipped. Reuters reported its largest contract, covering about 2M members, moved from 3.5 stars to 4, which puts it back in line for bonus payments.

JPMorgan had expected 60% to 70% of members in four-star plans, according to Reuters. Humana beat that by 25 points or more. Barclays moved to Overweight after the ratings.

Moderna came back to the Nasdaq-100 on Friday, and the stock celebrated by closing at the top of its range. It is now the top climbing stock this year on the S&P 500, beating out Sandisk. 👀

The RIP: $MRNA ( ▲ 14.21% ) rose 14.2% to $225, a 52-week high, on 28.7M shares. It closed Thursday at $197 and finished at its high of the day.

Nasdaq announced October 1 that Moderna would replace Warner Bros. Discovery in the index before the open on Friday. Funds that track the index have to buy what joins it. Moderna fell out of the index in December 2024 after its COVID vaccine business shrank. 💉

Traders also pointed to a reported federal push on cancer vaccines and the company's personalized cancer vaccine work with Merck. Skeptics said index buying and short covering did the heavy lifting.

The average Wall Street price target tracked by TradingView sits around $118, roughly half Friday's close. Index funds don't read price targets.

$MRNA ticker talk is split between oncology bulls and index-flow skeptics ->

Delta had a revenue story and a fuel bill, and the fuel bill won. Friday morning, the firm reported higher fuel costs for its Q3 2026 term.

The RIP: $DAL earned an adjusted $1.72 a share, short of Street estimates around $1.82. It cut its 2026 EPS forecast to $5.10 to $5.60 and closed Friday at $82.17, up 0.04%.

Adjusted fuel expense hit $4.1B, up 62%, at $3.61 a gallon. That ran more than $500M over what Delta guided in July. For the full year, fuel costs are up $6B and pre-tax profit is now about $4.5B. ⛽

The 2026 EPS range was $6.50 to $7.50 before Friday, and free cash flow dropped to about $2.5B from a range of $3B to $4B. December quarter EPS guidance is $1.15 to $1.65, with fuel near $4.25 a gallon.

CEO Ed Bastian said demand remains strong, and adjusted revenue grew 16% to $17.6B. Shares fell premarket and came all the way back to flat by the close.

$DAL ticker talk leans bullish after the cut ->

Earnings season starts in earnest next week, and Wall Street walks in with unusually good news. FactSet’s latest tally has S&P 500 Q3 earnings growing 29.5% from a year ago. That would be a third straight quarter above 25%.

The more telling signal is what analysts did during the quarter. Per-share estimates for Q3 rose 1.4% between June 30 and September 30. In a typical quarter, they get cut by about 2.2%. Companies are also guiding up: 72 of the 111 that have issued Q3 guidance (65%) gave positive guidance, against a five-year average of 41%.

All 11 sectors are expected to grow. Energy, tech, communication services and materials lead the way. With the forward P/E at 19.0, a high bar is already priced in. Companies need to clear it, not just meet it.

325.2K WATCHERS · BEARISH · HIGH ACTIVITY

Palantir rose after Barclays started coverage at Overweight with a $265 price target, one day after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy with a $230 target.

15.9K WATCHERS · BULLISH · HIGH ACTIVITY

Lumentum rose after CEO Michael Hurlston told Bloomberg TV the company is nearly sold out of optical parts through 2029 and can't meet 30% of demand for some products through 2028.

25.9K WATCHERS · BEARISH · NORMAL ACTIVITY

Datadog jumped after CIBC reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target from $280 to $315, citing faster revenue growth and a stronger performance trajectory.

15.9K WATCHERS · BULLISH · HIGH ACTIVITY

Lumentum climbed after its CEO said the company had nearly sold out of optical components through 2029, which is one way to make an AI supply shortage sound profitable.

Bearish 🐻 | Bullish 🐮 | It’s Complicated 😵‍💫

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🎬 Netflix Is Reportedly Trimming 5% of Staff

🌎 Strong Panama quake damages buildings, disrupts power and air travel

⛈ Hurricane Isaias lashes the US Gulf Coast with wind and rain hours before it comes ashore

🏛️ Trump Opened a Probe Into Fed Governor Lisa Cook

🔓 Ledger Is Chasing an $86M Wallet Mystery

🤖 Microsoft Built an AI Model for Snap Decisions

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