Inflation Pressures Rise as Services Activity Weakens Zacks Equity Research Fri, October 16, 2026 at 10:16 AM EDT 3 min read ^DJI +0.22% ^GSPC -0.40% ^RUT -0.46% The first full week of Q3 earnings season is nearly complete, and results are somewhat mixed so far. As Zacks Director of Research Sheraz Mian said earlier this week in his Earnings Trends release, early Q3 reports are "tracking modestly below" recent quarters over the same time period.
Pre-market futures are mixed slightly again this morning, with the Dow — looking to close higher for its second-straight week — up +27 points, the tech-(and AI-)heavy Nasdaq — hoping to avoid its worst trading week since July — is down -42 points. The S&P 500 splitting the difference at +11 points. The small-cap Russell 2000 is presently +4 points.
September Import Prices from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) came in at their highest rate since May: +1.1%, versus expectations of +0.8%, and more than double the previous month's downwardly revised +0.5%. Subtracting potentially volatile fuel prices, this number adjusts to +0.8% — still higher than expected. Year over year, +8.1% is the most expensive Imports month since July of 2022. Ex-petrol, this only drops to +6.0%.
Exports rose +2.2% last month, up from +1.2% posted for August. Agriculture exports grew by the highest number since November of 2022. Year over year, exports blossomed to +11.6%. While it's good to see Exports earn more than Imports, we're still looking at higher global inflation numbers, when it's all said and done.
Also out this morning is the October Services report from the Federal Reserve of New York: -20.7 is well below the -4.1 analysts were expecting, and hitting its lowest level since March of this year. This follows -8.7 print from September. This is the most rapid selling price since 2022, on weaker cap ex spending. There is also a pessimistic outlook for the tri-state (NY, NJ, CT) area. Compare this with the robust +25.5 posted in the Empire State manufacturing report earlier this week.
Dow component The Travelers TRV stormed the gates in Q3 earnings this morning, posting a +29.84% earnings surprise to $9.18 per share (from an expected $7.07). Revenues of $12.45 billion were modestly higher than the Zacks consensus, and almost flat year over year. Shares are down -3% on the news, giving back some of its +32% gains year to date.
Elsewhere, we saw quarterly reports from regional banks Regions Financial RF, Citizens Financial Group CFG and M&T Bank MTB. All three beat on earnings: +8.96%, +2.17% and +2.01%, respectively, but only Regions is higher in pre-market trading following the releases, with shares up +1.2%.
Next week, earnings season shifts to a higher gear, with Netflix NFLX — which just announced a replacement of its CCO from Bela Bajaria to entertainment exec Peter Rice — joining Tesla TSLA reporting after Tuesday's close. On Thursday, we'll see Q3 results from Meta Platforms META, General Motors GM and Intuitive Surgical ISRG.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
