Opening Comment — Tuesday, November 18, 2025
DJIA: 46,590.24, down 557.24
S&P 500: 6,672.41, down 61.70
NASDAQ: 22,708.07, down 192.52
Stocks lower following jobless claims data
Stock futures are lower Tuesday morning following an early-morning release of national jobless claims data and ahead of today’s homebuilder sentiment and factory orders data. As of 7:17 AM ET, the Dow is decreasing 0.7%, while the S&P 500 is down 0.5%. The Nasdaq 100 is falling 0.6% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were lower on Monday as the Empire State Manufacturing Survey from the Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of New York showed an unexpected increase in business activity in November, with the headline general business conditions index rising to 18.7. Construction spending in August unexpectedly edged higher, posting a 0.2% month-over-month (MOM) increase. The Dow was down 1.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8%. The S&P 500 decreased 0.9% with nine of 11 sectors finishing in negative territory. The Communication Services sector was the top performer, rising 1.1%, while the Financials sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.9%.
On the data front, initial jobless claims for the week ending October 18 came in at 232,000, while continuing claims came in at 1.96 million for the week ending October 18, up from the prior week’s 1.95 million. The New York Fed will release their Business Leaders Survey for November. The National Association of Home Builders’ Housing Market Index is forecasted to come in at 37 for November, unchanged from the prior month. Meanwhile, August’s factory orders are expected to have increased 1.4% MOM versus the prior month’s decrease of 1.3%. August’s finalized durable goods orders are expected to show a 2.9% MOM increase, unchanged from the prior reading. The release of October’s industrial production scheduled for today is delayed due to the lack of available data, while the October Import and Export Price Indexes are delayed due to the lack of data collection during the government shutdown.
Across the pond, European stocks are lower in mid-day trading as investors are awaiting tomorrow’s release of October inflation figures from the U.K. and the eurozone.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were lower as minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s November meeting revealed “on balance, members judged that financial conditions were still slightly restrictive but that it was also possible this was no longer the case.”
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is little changed ahead of tomorrow’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.1% higher at $59.96/barrel.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.1% lower at $4,040.99/ounce.