Tuesday, July 21st, 2026
Pre-market futures have pushed into the green at this hour, although they are off early morning highs. Investor sentiment remains complicated into the second trading day of the week, with headwinds continuing from AI capex concerns and renewed hostilities in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
The Dow is +129 points presently, +0.25%, while the S&P 500 is +32 points, +0.43%. The Nasdaq is the only major index looking like its pushing continually higher in today’s pre-market, +400 points, +1.39%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 is +11, +0.38%. WTI spot oil has creeped up to $84 per barrel (/bbl) this morning, $90 on Brent crude. Bond yields are inching up as well: +4.61% on the 10-year, +4.22% on the 2-year.
Wide Swath of Quarterly Earnings Results Hit the Tape
Ahead of today’s open, General Motors GM posted an impressive +14% earnings surprise for its Q2 to $3.57 per share, with revenues $48.03 billion easily surpassing the Zacks consensus by +3.15%, and higher than the $47.12 billion reported a year ago. GM even raised its full-year guidance, though shares are only modestly moving higher at this hour. The stock is up +43% from a year ago. For more on GM’s earnings, click here.
Minnesota-based international conglomerate 3M MMM also outperformed expectations this morning, with earnings of $2.40 per share surpassing the $2.27 anticipated, for a +5.73% beat. In fact, it’s the biggest earnings beat from the company since the June quarter a year ago. Full-year guidance was also raised. Shares are up +7% on the news so far this morning.
Inflammation and oncology treatment maker Novartis NVS — developer of Entresto, Cosentyx, Kisqali and Pluvicto, to name but a few — put up a +9.55% earnings beat: $2.41 per share versus $2.20 anticipated. This is Novartis’ first earnings beat since the December 2025 quarter. Shares are up +2.4% in today’s pre-market, +31% over the past year.
Defense giant Northrop Grumman NOC posted an earnings beat of +12.28%: $7.68 per share versus $6.84 projected. This marks the company’s fifth-straight earnings beat. Revenues of $10.88 billion came in +0.73% ahead of the Zacks consensus, though a record backlog of $105 billion wasn’t enough to impress early traders — shares are down -4.2% ahead of the open. For more on NOC’s earnings, click here.
Major toy manufacturer Hasbro HAS outperformed Q2 estimates by +9.4%: $1.28 per share versus $1.17 expected, with revenues of $1.14 billion outpacing estimates by +8.93%, nicely up from $980.8 million reported in the year-ago quarter. Shares are up +2.4% on the news — nearly half on the stock’s entire gains over the past year. For more on HAS’ earnings, click here.
“America’s largest homebuilder” D.R. Horton DHI also outperformed expectations on its fiscal Q3 quarterly results this morning. Earnings of $3.20 per share swept past the $2.99 forecast, for a +7% beat. This is the third earnings beat for the Texas-based homebuilder in its past four quarters. Revenues matched the year-ago tally at $9.23 billion for the quarter, +0.46% higher than anticipated. For more on DHI’s earnings, click here.
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Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC): Free Stock Analysis Report
Novartis AG (NVS): Free Stock Analysis Report
3M Company (MMM): Free Stock Analysis Report
Hasbro, Inc. (HAS): Free Stock Analysis Report
General Motors Company (GM): Free Stock Analysis Report
D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).