Friday’s big stock stories: What’s likely to move the market in the next trading session
Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you a first look at tomorrow and last look at today. Sign up for free to receive it directly in your inbox. Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as the Nasdaq Composite booked its worst day since June, and what’s on the radar for the next session. Apple’s new high The stock hit a new high on Thursday, and it closed at $348.22. Eagle-eyed executive producer Todd Bonin pointed out it is extremely close to overtaking Nvidia as the leader in market capitalization. On Friday, CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos will report live as Apple fans start lining up for the new $2,000 iPhone Duo , with online orders stretching out for months. Perhaps that’s better than stretching out overnight on Fifth Avenue, but that’s just one guy’s humble opinion. Apple is up 28% so far this year. AAPL YTD mountain Apple in 2026 American Express The company reports quarterly earnings Friday morning. American Express is down more than 6% in three months. Shares are off 16% from the December high. Don’t leave home without watching ” Squawk Box ” with Becky Quick, Joe Kernen and Andrew Ross Sorkin. They’ll have the full details Friday morning, live from Times Square. Western Digital The company’s fiscal first quarter results beat estimates, driven by data storage demand and favorable pricing. Western Digital is down 5% after hours. Investors are not in a great mood Thursday night after the Nasdaq-100 lost 2.9% in the regular session. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) fell like a rock, down about 6%. Western DIgital is down 22% in October. WDC 1M mountain Western Digital in the past month Cyber worries The Amplify Cybersecurity ETF (HACK) bucked the tech downtrend and closed 0.4% higher following new reports of a security vulnerability in the code that powers a majority of websites. Check Point was up almost 6%. Palo Alto Networks was up 2.2%. South Korea The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) fell almost 5% Thursday. The ETF is heavily weighted in the country’s chip and tech sector. It is now down 32.5% from the June high. South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Lee Hyoung-il told CNBC Asia this week that chip demand is expected to continue surging through next year. We’ll have more about this Friday on ” Morning Call ” at 5 a.m. with Morgan Brennan. It’s worth waking up for. Insurance stocks hitting Highs MetLife hit an all-time high. The stock is up about 10% in October and up almost 35% in six months. Marsh and McLennan hit a 52-week high. The stock is up 5.8% week to date and up nearly 17% in October. The S & P Insurance Industry is off less than 1% from its 52-week high. It is up 12% in October. Fannie and Freddie We’ll keep a close watch on both of these stocks Friday after CNBC’s Sara Eisen interviewed Bill Ackman on Thursday. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shares moved when Ackman said he believed they’d come out of government control before the end of the Trump administration. That was something the president talked about before being re-elected. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp, known as Freddie Mac, was up almost 15% on Thursday. Fannie Mae, or the Federal National Mortgage Association, was up 12.6% following Ackman’s comments. However, shares of both entities are down 70% from their highs.
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