Pre-markets Stay Red Ahead of NVIDIA Earnings, Jobs Data

Tuesday, November 18, 2025November continues its equity market mudslide this morning, as trepidation grips the market ahead of two important releases later this week: NVIDIA’s NVDA earnings report after the bell tomorrow and the Employment Situation report for September (still lagging, but better than nothing). Until one or both of these brings a sigh of relief to market participants, we’ll likely see a “risk-off” trading environment.The Dow is currently -349 points, -0.75%, while the S&P 500 is -30 points, -0.46%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq leads the arrow downward, -137 points or -0.59%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 is -10 points, -0.43%. Over the past five trading days, these indexes are taking a bath, between -3.2% on the S&P to -5.2% for the Russell.ADP Weekly Jobs Report Still NegativeWith the elongated government shutdown keeping economists and data-driven investors in the dark, private-sector payroll provider ADP ADP began a weekly preliminary jobs report a few weeks back. That’s the good news. The not-so-good-news is that we’re now down for the second of three weeks this chart has been in operation: -2500 private-sector jobs were lost last week — an improvement from -11K the prior week but still pointing to a weak employment picture on the private-sector side.This is, as we know, something of a blessing for those looking for the Fed to continue cutting interest rates. We should find out more when the September jobs numbers are released in a couple days, and if that survey is somewhat in line with the ADP data (no guarantee they will be, however; usually it’s only after a monthly revision or two that these figures align themselves) then we may see a boost to market sentiment with the understanding that the December 25 basis-point (bps) cut is back on the table.What We’re Missing from TodayWe had written on the calendar for this week releases for the October Imports & Exports report and Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization, also for October. We are likely to get a delayed Factory Orders report after today’s open, and the privately-held Homebuilders Confidence Index for November is also expected at 10am ET this morning. Expectations there are for an even — but still clearly soft — 37, the same as October.Home Depot Misses Q3 Earnings, Lowers GuidanceThis morning’s Home Depot HD earnings miss is the third-straight for the home improvement retail giant, with $3.74 per share coming in -1.84% from the $3.81 in the Zacks consensus. Revenues outperformed expectations by a smidge, +0.88% to $41.35 billion in the quarter. This amounts to Home Depot’s third top-line beat in its last four quarters.However, its downward guidance for Q4 and the full fiscal year are sending shares down -5% in today’s pre-market trading. The stock was already down -8% year to date, -12% since this time this past year. The company has been hit by the double whammy of a weak housing cycle (now years old) and an immigration crackdown from ICE agents in various metropolises across the U.S. For more on HD’s earnings, click here.Questions or comments about this article and/or author? Click here>>Zacks Names #1 Semiconductor StockThis under-the-radar company specializes in semiconductor products that titans like NVIDIA don't build. It's uniquely positioned to take advantage of the next growth stage of this market. And it's just beginning to enter the spotlight, which is exactly where you want to be.With strong earnings growth and an expanding customer base, it's positioned to feed the rampant demand for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Internet of Things. Global semiconductor manufacturing is projected to explode from $452 billion in 2021 to $971 billion by 2028.See This Stock Now for Free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP): Free Stock Analysis Report NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): Free Stock Analysis Report The Home Depot, Inc. (HD): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks