Earnings season is the heartbeat of the market, and every day brings fresh signals about where money is flowing.
With each report, we learn not just how companies are performing, but how investors are reacting.
In the Daily Beat, we spotlight the most important S&P 500 earnings moves from the prior session: the winners, the losers, and the reactions that reveal what really matters to the market right now.
Whether it’s a bellwether with broad economic implications or a niche name making waves, we cut through the noise to focus on the setups that matter most.
Here are the latest earnings stats from the S&P 500 👇
The $201 bank, Citi $C, had the least-terrible earnings reaction. Following a big double miss, shareholders were punished with a -1.30 reaction score.
The company reported $19.87B in revenues, missing the expected $20.95B, and earnings per share of $1.19, missing the expected $1.65.
At the bottom of Wednesday's Beat Sheet was the $383B bank, Bank of America $BAC. After beating headline expectations, shareholders suffered a -2.25 reaction score.
Revenues came in at $28.37B, missing the expected $27.76B, and earnings per share of $0.98, missing the expected $0.96.
Let's talk about what else happened 👇
C snapped a 4-quarter beat streak🐻
Citi had a -3.3% post-earnings reaction, and here's what happened:
It was a strong overall quarter with banking revenues leading the way higher, up 32% year-over-year.
Long-time CFO Mark Manson announced this was his final earnings call. The transition to a new CFO is underway.
In addition to the good report, the management team reiterated positive guidance for 2026. However, they expect market revenues to be flat this year.
Despite posting a strong quarter, expectations were too high heading into the report. This not only resulted in a double miss, but it snapped a streak of 4 consecutive positive earnings reactions.
While the stock is still in a strong long-term primary uptrend, events like this often signal the start of larger drawdowns.
We'll be monitoring C closely over the coming days and weeks to see whether the bears can follow through to the downside.
BAC had its worst earnings reaction since 2020🐻
Bank of America had a -3.8% post-earnings reaction, and here's what happened:
Net income increased by 12% year-over-year, fueled by a 10% increase in net interest income over the same period.
The provision for credit losses shrank by $200M year-over-year, which helped boost the bottom-line.
In addition to the solid report, the management team expects continued growth in net interest income and operating leverage in 2026.
We highlighted this report in the latest Weekly Beat column. In the note, we highlighted that BAC was breaking out above its Great Financial Crisis peak and printing fresh all-time highs heading into this report.
It looked poised to make a decisive breakout and enter a brand-new primary uptrend.
In addition, last quarter's earnings report produced the strongest earnings reaction in years. The fundamentals and technicals were both pointing higher.
However, Mr. Market wasn't impressed with this quarter's results. As if a beat/beat/drop weren't bad enough, the stock had its worst earnings reaction since 2020.
In other words, the market's reaction was about as bad as it could've been.
In the coming days and weeks, we'll monitor the prior cycle's peak to see whether buyers can flip former resistance into support. If that key level of interest doesn't hold, look out below!
Thank you for reading.
-The Beat Team
P.S. Q3 earnings are in. Here are the takeaways, and how we identified them.
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