Terry Lane
Mon, October 20, 2025 at 5:21 AM MST 4 min read
Spencer Platt / Getty Images Major stock indexes posted solid gains last week despite several volatile days of trading.
Stock futures are rising this morning as investors await a slew of earnings reports, key inflation data and updates on trade negotiations in the coming days; Amazon Web Services experienced disruptions that created service issues for several major websites; Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 17 model outsold the prior model in the U.S. and China during its first ten days on the market; proxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services advised Tesla (TSLA) shareholders to reject a proposed pay package for CEO Elon Musk; and Cooper Companies (COO) stock is rising on news activist investor Jana had built a stake in the medical device maker. Here’s what you need to know today.
Stock futures are gaining ground at the start of of a busy week for corporate earnings, after major indexes rose last week despite a volatile stretch of trading fueled by banking sector worries and trade-related tensions. Investors are awaiting further developments on the trade front and awaiting the scheduled release on Wednesday of inflation data that will factor into the Federal Reserve’s upcoming decision on interest rates. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.2% recently, while those linked to the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-focussed Nasdaq added 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively. Gold futures were up nearly 2% at $4,295 an ounce, rebounding from a downturn on Friday that followed a string of record highs. Bitcoin (BTCUSD) was trading near $111,000, after dropping below $104,000 on Friday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects borrowing costs on an array of consumer loans, held steady at 4.01%.
Several major websites went down after cloud platform Amazon Web Services experienced major outages early Monday. The outage affected several Amazon (AMZN) services, including Alexa, while also reportedly creating disruptions for Disney+, Lyft, the New York Times, Reddit, Ring, Snapchat, Reddit, Ring, Robinhood, T-Mobile, United Airlines, Venmo, Verizon, gaming site Fortnite, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Epic Games Store, AI model Perplexity and the McDonalds app. Shares of Amazon were little-changed in premarket trading. The shares have lost 3% since the start of the year, making Amazon the only member of the Magnificent 7 group of major technology stocks to be in negative territory in 2025.
Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 17 model outsold the iPhone 16 by 14% during the first ten days of sales in the U.S. and China, the two markets that make up the bulk of the company’s phone sales, according to Counterpoint Research. The report said that improvements to the iPhone 17 provided value that helped draw in more buyers. “A better chip, improved display, higher base storage, selfie camera upgrade – all for the same price as last year’s iPhone 16,” said senior analyst Mengmeng Zhang. The report found that the base model iPhone 17 performed well in China, while the premium iPhone 17 Max saw strong demand in the U.S., with discounts provided by phone carriers helping to spur sales. Apple shares were up 1.5% in recent premarket trading.
