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MARKET BRIEFING · US

The Dow added more than 500 points while the Nasdaq sat still, as money rotated out of technology into health care and the old economy.

October 20, 2026 · Read the Korean original

Major indices

  • Dow 52,495.88 +1.02%
  • S&P 500 7,712.57 +0.28%
  • Nasdaq 26,424.82 -0.02%

Housing data set the tone overnight. September housing starts ran at an annual rate of 1.221 million, 5.2% below August and short of the roughly 1.3 million the market had penciled in, Investing.com reported. Investors read it as evidence that high borrowing costs are finally biting the real economy and moved into long-dated Treasuries, pulling the 10-year yield to the low 5.11% area and the 30-year to around 5.42%. The 2-year edged higher instead, so expectations that the Fed holds rates this month sat alongside worries about slowing growth. Oil swung sharply above $100 a barrel as US-Iran negotiation headlines came and went, and the dollar turned weaker against the major currencies, per FXStreet and investingLive.

The headline indexes looked quiet, but underneath, money moved out of technology and into the old economy. The Dow rose 1.02% to close at 52,495.88 while the S&P 500 managed only 0.28% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.02%, effectively flat, according to CNBC. Smaller companies outpaced the big tech names and the volatility index fell, so this was less a session of cutting risk than of moving it somewhere else.

Health care and traditional industrials did the lifting. Eli Lilly (LLY, obesity-drug pharma) climbed around 5% intraday on trial and pipeline news, reaching record territory, and the health care sector as a whole set a fresh high. Third-quarter results lifted Northrop Grumman (NOC, aerospace and defense), 3M (MMM, industrial materials), Hasbro (HAS, toys) and Equifax (EFX, credit bureau) together, changing the first impression of this earnings season. On the other side, General Motors (GM, autos) fell as analysts flagged cost pressure, and the companies pouring money into AI data centers weakened again. CoreWeave (CRWV, neocloud), Nebius (NBIS, AI cloud) and IREN (IREN, miner turned AI cloud) were in that group, with CNBC reporting that a 30% first-day drop for a Korean AI infrastructure listing deepened doubts about data-center demand.

After the close, earnings split. SpaceX (SPCX, launch and satellite communications) said third-quarter revenue came in well above expectations, while Netflix (NFLX, video streaming) fell in after-hours trading as revenue missed. The urge to check whether AI spending is turning into revenue is likely to repeat with each of this week's remaining reports.

Three threads are worth watching in Korea today. For semiconductors, a flat Nasdaq and another weak session for data-center names stay a burden, and with the Kospi having dropped sharply the day before on memory peak-out worries, there is little fresh material to reverse it. Bio and health care look relatively better placed, since that is where money went in the US. For defense, Northrop Grumman's strong quarter can be read as a sign that global order flow has not broken. As long as yields sit in the 5% range, though, valuation pressure travels with all three.

What is confirmed is the index moves, the housing figure and the results companies actually reported. The idea that money is rotating from technology into health care and the old economy is press and market interpretation, and it will be tested again by the big tech reports still to come this week.

Korean industries to watch today

  • Semiconductors · A flat Nasdaq and weak data-center names may keep pressure on chips
  • Bio & healthcare · US health care set a record high as money rotated in
  • Defense · Northrop Grumman's strong quarter supports the global order cycle

Watchlist stocks in the news

  • Eli Lilly (LLY) · Rose about 5% intraday on trial and pipeline news, reaching record territory at the center of the rotation into health care. (The Motley Fool)
  • CoreWeave (CRWV) · Fell in premarket trading as debt and funding costs for AI data-center buildouts came back into focus. (TipRanks)
  • Nebius (NBIS) · Slipped in premarket trading as funding worries spread across the AI cloud group. (TipRanks)
  • IREN (IREN) · Stayed weak during the session as a Korean AI infrastructure listing's first-day plunge fed doubts about data-center demand. (CNBC)
  • NOC (NOC) · Gained close to 5% intraday after third-quarter earnings per share beat estimates by a wide margin. (CNBC)
  • EFX (EFX) · Jumped nearly 12% intraday as an adjusted earnings beat outweighed a trimmed full-year revenue outlook. (CNBC)
  • HAS (HAS) · Rose more than 5% intraday after beating third-quarter estimates and raising its full-year revenue growth outlook. (CNBC)
  • MMM (MMM) · Led the strength in traditional industrials after third-quarter results beat expectations. (The Motley Fool)
  • GM (GM) · Fell more than 6% intraday as rising cost pressure overshadowed strong truck sales despite an earnings beat. (CNBC)

Sources (Korean-language)

This market briefing was compiled by AI from this site's own price and filing data together with public news reports, and translated from the Korean original. Please check the sources below before relying on it.

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