EB Daily Market Report - Brief Update - Thursday, October 29, 2026

Our major indices are bifurcated today as a lower 10-year treasury yield ($TNX) is aiding the interest-rate-sensitive areas of the market like small caps (IWM, +0.71%), homebuilders (XHB, +2.64%), regional banks (KRE, +0.76%), and transports ($TRAN, +0.19%). The IWM is on the verge of closing above its 20-day EMA for the 3rd consecutive session, though it did fail at its 50-day SMA after testing that key moving average for the first time in nearly 2 months. Now let's see which level breaks first, 20-day EMA support or 50-day SMA resistance.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 are both down a bit more than 0.50%. The NASDAQ 100 ($NDX, -1.70%) is being hit the hardest today as one of the largest companies in the world, Alphabet (GOOGL, -13.01%), takes a big hit after coming up well short of its earnings expectations, $2.12 vs. $2.94. Communications services (XLC, -1.92%) and internet stocks ($DJUSNS, -7.90%) have both been beaten up today as a result. Software ($DJUSSW, -2.25%) and semiconductors ($DJUSSC, -1.94%) are down significantly as well. Fortinet (FTNT, -22.06%) is down considerably, despite beating its quarterly EPS estimate, $.91 vs. $.85. While the daily chart looks broken on FTNT, I see long-term price support quickly approaching:

It's never fun to see a portfolio stock getting hit hard like FTNT, but I do think it makes sense to hold FTNT, given the upcoming support at both its rising 50-week SMA and its price support in the 115 area.

Marvell Technologies (MRVL, -14.30%) is weighing on semiconductors as the company is reportedly in talks to acquire Lumentum (LITE, +0.85%) for roughly $83 billion, close to where LITE currently trades.

One interesting note. The Volatility Index ($VIX, -1.66%) is declining, despite the drop today in the S&P 500. I view that bullishly and in line with what I'd expect to happen with the VIX now that we've moved into a much more bullish seasonal period.

Happy trading!

Tom