Stock Market Today: S&P Climbs On Surprise CPI Inflation Report; IBM Plunges 23% On Earnings (Live Coverage)

IBM shares cratered approximately 23% following its earnings release, marking one of the stock's worst single-day moves in recent memory. This came against a backdrop of a positive macro surprise: a cooler-than-expected CPI print that lifted the broader S&P 500, creating a stark divergence between macro tailwinds and IBM-specific earnings damage. The enrichment data shows IBM reporting full-year revenues of $67.5B (+7.6% YoY) with a healthy 58.2% gross margin, but a relatively thin 15.7% net margin and $11.17 diluted EPS — suggesting the top-line growth story may have masked underlying profitability or guidance concerns that the market is now repricing.

The 23% single-session drop is an extreme move for a mega-cap industrial tech name with IBM's revenue scale. A selloff of this magnitude on earnings typically reflects either a severe guidance cut, a miss on the segment most priced into the stock (likely its consulting or hybrid cloud divisions), or a combination of both. Without the exact beat/miss details, the enrichment data alone does not fully explain the gap — but the thin net margin relative to gross suggests cost pressures or below-the-line charges may have played a role.

The second-order setup is whether IBM's post-gap level represents a value entry or a value trap. The bull case rests on the 7.6% revenue growth rate and 58.2% gross margin suggesting the core franchise is intact, and that a 23% gap-down may have overshot fair value. The bear case is that guidance resets can lead to multiple compression that persists for quarters, and IBM has historically struggled to sustain growth inflections.

Key things to watch: management commentary on the consulting pipeline and free cash flow guidance, any analyst price-target revisions in the days following the print, and whether the stock finds support or continues to bleed as institutions reposition. The macro CPI tailwind provides some floor for the broader tape but is unlikely to rescue a stock whose fundamental story has been called into question.