Rover’s Weekly Market Brief – 10/23/2026

Dividend Investing – Part 1

We have created a three-part blog series on dividend investing in Stock Rover. This week we feature Part 1 ^[7], which covers screening for dividend stocks and ETFs.

Economy

The National Association of REALTORS® reported ^[8] that existing-home sales increased 1.5% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.99M, down 2.2% from the comparable period in 2025. The monthly increase reflected a 2.0% rise in single-family home sales to an annual rate of 3.64M, alongside a 2.8% decline in condominium and co-op sales to an annual rate of 350,000. Total housing inventory rose to 1.60M units, up 1.9% from August and 4.6% year-over-year, representing a 4.8-month supply of unsold inventory. Meanwhile, the median existing-home sales price for all housing types increased to $417,500, rising 1.3% year-over-year and marking the 39th consecutive month of annual price gains. Despite the September increase, August and September marked the two slowest months for home sales this year, while higher inventory and lengthening days on market improved buyers’ negotiating power, prompting NAR to emphasize that sellers must remain realistic about local conditions and the potential need for price discounts and other incentives.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow model estimated ^[9] real gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the third quarter of 2026 at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.5% as of its October 20 update, down from an initial estimate of 5.0% on July 30. Consumer spending was projected to grow 3.8%, contributing 2.55 percentage points (pp) to GDP growth, while equipment investment was forecast to surge 17.8%, adding 1.00 pp. Nonresidential structures and government spending were projected to increase 6.8% and 2.5%, respectively, while residential investment was expected to decline 2.7%. Net exports subtracted 2.86 pp from growth, reflecting projected import growth of 15.6% and an export decline of 5.9%, while private inventory investment contributed 1.90 pp. The latest estimate was the model’s lowest for the quarter, down from a peak of 6.2% on August 3; final sales of domestic product were projected to grow 1.6%, compared with 4.7% growth in final sales to private domestic purchasers.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported ^[10] that for the week ending October 16, 2026, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) decreased by 3.1 million barrels to 412.5 million barrels, remaining about 3% below the five-year average. Total commercial petroleum inventories declined by 8.5 million barrels, as gasoline inventories fell by 3.0 million barrels, leaving them 5% below the five-year average, and distillate inventories increased by 1.7 million barrels, sitting about 9% below the five-year average. Refinery inputs averaged 16.6 million barrels per day (b/d) with capacity utilization at 93.4%, resulting in production averages of 9.8 million b/d for gasoline and 5.2 million b/d for distillate fuel. Crude oil imports decreased to 5.8 million b/d for the week, though the four-week average of 6.1 million b/d remains 2.8% above the year-ago level.

Upcoming Economic Reports:

Tuesday October 27 – Durable Goods Orders MoM (September)

Wednesday October 28 – FOMC Interest Rate Decision

Earnings Calendar:

 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Nucor (NUE)	Coca-Cola (KO)	Alphabet (GOOGL)	Amazon (AMZN)	AbbVie (ABBV)
Verizon Communications (VZ)	Visa (V)	Microsoft (MSFT)	Intel (INTC)	ExxonMobil Holdings (XOM)