10x Genomics, Inc. (TXG)

The United States economy is full of innovation. It has to be. Manufacturing industries that dominated the economy decades ago - textiles, televisions, even automobiles to a large degree - have moved overseas, where labor and materials costs are lower. Yet the U.S. economy, even during the pandemic and the recent period of high inflation, has expanded to record levels. If U.S. corporations weren't innovating, creating new products (such as AI and vaccines) and services (such as Zoom calls and Netflix), as well as moving into new markets (clean energy, rare drugs), the domestic economy would not be growing, and capital would not be flooding into the country. Consider that U.S. GDP was approximately $1 trillion in 1930 but was almost $31.5 trillion at the end of 2025. That's growth of 30-times. Meanwhile, the U.S. population has grown less than 3-times during that time span, to 340 million from 120 million. The delta between GDP growth and population growth has been driven, in large part, by innovation.

Which stocks rose to the top and which fell behind in the third quarter? In the quarter, the S&P 500 gained 2%, following a rise of 15% in 2Q and a loss of 4% in 1Q. But the strongest gains were concentrated within only a few sectors: Energy, Healthcare, and Information Technology. In fact, a majority of sectors were negative in the quarter. The laggards included Communication Services, Consumer Discretionary, Financial, Industrial, Materials, Real Estate, and Utilities. In the Argus Universe Coverage (more than 500 public companies), and looking at both BUY-rated and HOLD-rated companies, the average stock performance in the third quarter was a loss of 2% and the median change was a loss of 5%. The 10 top-performing BUY-rated stocks rose 71% on average. The following is a list of those top performers (noting that only four sectors are represented.) and also includes the bottom-five performers.

This is a big week for economic data, with updates on both inflation and employment that could well impact the Fed's next interest-rate decision. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain of 0.28%, the S&P 500 rose 1.2%, and the Nasdaq gained 2%. Year to date, the Dow is up 7.8%, the S&P 13.1%, and the Nasdaq 16.4%. On the economic calendar, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index on inflation will be released on Wednesday, while the September jobs report comes out on Friday. Will the Fed hike rates again? Many economists do indeed expect another 25-basis-point rate increase before year-end. The Federal Reserve's next rate meeting is on October 28, and odds now suggest a 64% likelihood of a hike at that meeting. After that, the next meeting (the last of the year) is on December 9. On the earnings calendar, reports are light this week. A few headliners include Jefferies Financial, Vail Resorts, Carnival Corp., CarMax, Micron Technology, and Nike. The next earnings season starts when the big banks begin to report on October 13. Turning to economic data, gas prices rose another 16 cents last week, to an average of $4.48 per gallon for regular gas. Elsewhere, the Atlanta Fed GDPNow forecast calls for 5.1% growth in 3Q, unchanged from last week. The Cleveland Fed Inflation Nowcast is at 3.6% for September, a tick higher than last week. Mortgage rates inched up another eight basis points last week, with the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now at 7.03%, according to FreddieMac. Taking a deeper dive into performance so far in 2026, a leading industrialized global stock market index, the ETF EFA, is up 8% year to date, while the leading emerging market ETF (EEM) is up 23%. U.S. growth stocks are up 5% when looking at the ETF IWF, while value stocks (IWD) are up 18%. Crude oil prices continue to be volatile. On Friday, oil was at about $93 per barrel, up 60% for the year. In other asset classes, AGG bonds are down 5%, gold is down 1%, and Bitcoin is down 3%. The U.S. dollar is up 3%, tracking DXY. The VIX Volatility Index was at about 15 on Friday, below its historical average of 20. Turning to sector performance, the list from first to worst so far in 2026 is Energy (+40%), Information Technology (+35%), Materials (+10%), Healthcare (+10%), Industrials (+9%), Consumer Staples (+5%), Real Estate (+3%), Financials (flat), Communication Services (-3%), Utilities (-8%), and Consumer Discretionary (-8%).

10x Genomics Inc. develops and sells instruments, consumables, and software for analyzing biological systems. The company, founded in 2012, serves various academic, government, biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and other institutions. 10x Genomics has approximately 1,200 employees. TXG shares are included in the Russell 2000 Index.