Markets
Markets Today: Earnings Land Mixed, Bitcoin Rebounds Off $81K — All Eyes on CPI (October 13, 2026)
Tue Oct 13: Dow -0.35%, S&P 500 flat on mixed bank earnings; Bitcoin rebounds off $81K to ~$83.6K; oil churns near $93/$106 ahead of Wednesday CPI.
Tuesday was a day of mixed signals and barely-moved indexes. The Dow gave up an early 400-point rally to finish down 180.45 points (-0.35%), the S&P 500 edged down 0.02% to 7,805.45, and the Nasdaq slipped 0.15% to 27,204.38 — as investors digested the first big batch of third-quarter bank earnings, a second straight day of pain for memory-chip stocks, and an oil market caught between a Russian diesel deal and fresh attacks in Saudi Arabia. Bitcoin, meanwhile, did the one thing equities couldn't: it rallied, clawing back from a dip under $81,000 to about $83,600. Crypto prices below are as of about 10:24 a.m. ET on Tuesday, October 13; stock figures are final closes. Not financial advice — this is a recap of what happened today, not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.
Crypto snapshot
| Asset | Price | 24h |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $83,606.53 | +1.35% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | $2,501.97 | -1.48% |
| Total crypto market cap | $2.83T | -2.75% |
Bitcoin traded at $83,606.53 at 10:24 a.m. ET, with a market value of $1.66 trillion, after printing a wick just under $81,000 eighteen hours earlier — a roughly $2,600 overnight recovery. Ether changed hands at $2,501.97 at 10:00 a.m. ET, worth about $307 billion, in a violent 6.8% overnight range. Total market cap and its 24h change come from BProud's October 13 crypto roundup, which also put the Crypto Fear & Greed Index at 57 (Greed), down from 73 a week ago.
Stock market snapshot
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,805.45 | -0.02% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 27,204.38 | -0.15% |
| Dow Jones | 51,670.10 | -0.35% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,783.56 | -0.39% |
The S&P 500 finished less than a point off unchanged and just 0.6% below its all-time high, while the Nasdaq stayed near record levels. The 10-year Treasury yield held around 5.22–5.24%, down from Friday's 5.24% after the bond market reopened from the Columbus Day holiday. Gold traded around $4,182–$4,210 an ounce, and crude stayed elevated with Brent near $105–$106 a barrel.
Today's winners and losers
Winners
- UnitedHealth — shares rose after the health insurer's earnings topped estimates and it raised its 2026 adjusted EPS floor to $20.50 (Investopedia; TradingNews).
- Meta Platforms (~+3%) — paced the advance among internet and tech names (Investor's Business Daily).
- Apple — retook a prior buy point even as semiconductor stocks sold off (Investor's Business Daily).
- Stacks (STX, +11.25%) and Render (+10.51%) — the strongest large-cap crypto gainers in a red market (BProud).
- Cheesecake Factory — continued to break out on its chart (Investor's Business Daily).
Losers
- Johnson & Johnson (~-6%) — plummeted after its MedTech division missed sales estimates, overshadowing a profit beat (Motley Fool).
- Micron Technology (-3.62%) — sank for a second day on news of a Chinese DRAM design breakthrough, finishing below its 50-day moving average (Motley Fool; Investor's Business Daily).
- Sandisk (-0.34%) — tumbled more than 5% intraday before recovering most of the loss by the close (Motley Fool; Investor's Business Daily).
- Blackstone (-4.18%) — fell as rising yields and analyst price-target cuts weighed on the alternative asset manager (Motley Fool).
- Caterpillar (-3%+) — led the Dow's downside and closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since June 2025 (Investor's Business Daily).
- Pump.fun (-13.13%) and Lighter (-11.26%) — the steepest losers among the top 100 cryptos; NEAR Protocol fell 9.01% (BProud).
What's driving the moves
- Earnings season's first report card was mixed. JPMorgan's profit rose to $15.3 billion from $14.4 billion a year ago but came in 33 cents short of the $5.90 EPS consensus on $50.2 billion in revenue. Goldman Sachs reported higher profits on a 72% year-over-year jump in stock-trading revenue. UnitedHealth beat and raised its outlook, while J&J's miss on medical-device sales sank its shares.
- The memory-chip selloff deepened. South Korea's KOSPI plunged 5.46% to 6,035.35, briefly trading below 6,000, as reports of a Chinese DRAM design breakthrough and Broadcom's CEO calling AI investing "casino-like" rattled the AI trade. Samsung fell 7% and SK Hynix 10%.
- Oil is stuck between two stories. WTI traded around $91.8–$93.7 and Brent near $105.4–$105.7: hopes for additional Russian diesel (75,000 barrels a day pledged, with a temporary easing of US fuel sanctions) pulled prices down, while new attacks on Saudi Arabia — Riyadh's airport is shut through Saturday — and weekend tanker incidents near the Strait of Hormuz kept a risk premium in crude (TradingNews). Brent is up 70% over 12 months.
- Wednesday's CPI looms over everything. The September inflation report lands at 8:30 a.m. ET, with consensus around 3.6–3.7% headline year-over-year (up from 3.4% in August) and 2.5% core (up from 2.4%) — a month after the Fed raised rates to 3.75–4.00%, its first hike in more than three years (TradingKey; CoinDesk).
- Crypto institutional demand looks fragile. US spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $65.4 million on Monday, all from IBIT, pushing October to a $454 million deficit, and spot Ether ETFs posted their tenth straight day of outflows (about $783 million total) even as BitMine accumulated nearly 5% of ETH supply. On the other hand, Strategy added 250 BTC, lifting its holdings to 848,250 coins.
What investors are watching next
- Wednesday's CPI (8:30 a.m. ET). Analysts expect headline inflation around 3.6–3.7% year-over-year, driven by energy prices, while monthly core is forecast to cool to 0.2% from 0.3%. Traders are pricing less than a 20% chance of a Fed hike at the October 27–28 meeting — a hot print would test those odds (TradingKey; CoinDesk).
- PPI and retail sales Thursday. Producer prices and September retail sales arrive the morning after CPI, and the Fed's Beige Book lands Wednesday afternoon — together they complete the picture before the Fed's quiet period (TradingKey).
- Fed Chair Warsh's Thursday speech. Kevin Warsh delivers remarks in Thailand on October 15, his first major speech as Fed chair; markets are listening for any hint on the rate path, a day before the blackout period ahead of the October 27–28 FOMC meeting (CoinDesk).
- More earnings. Bank earnings continue this week alongside more consumer and health names, offering a running read on consumer demand and credit conditions after Tuesday's mixed batch (Motley Fool).
- Crypto chatter is bracing for CPI volatility. Retail crypto traders on social media are framing Wednesday's inflation data as the week's make-or-break moment for Bitcoin, with support chatter clustering around the $78,000–$80,000 zone if the print runs hot — a reminder that positioning, not just the data, can swing the market.
The bottom line: Tuesday was a holding-pattern day with everything positioned around Wednesday's CPI. Stocks barely moved despite mixed bank earnings and a rough session for chip names, oil chopped between supply hope and geopolitical fear, and Bitcoin recovered its composure after a dip that tested $81,000. The real test comes at 8:30 a.m. ET Wednesday: a headline print near 3.7% could rekindle rate-hike talk, while a softer number could steady both stocks and crypto. Either way, the next 48 hours will be livelier than today. Nothing here is financial advice — know what you own and why.