Wall Street Closes Higher on a Chip Rally as Boeing Falls and Traders Wait for the Fed
The Nasdaq gained 1.2 percent and the S&P 500 0.6 percent on Tuesday while the Dow barely moved, with oil easing, confidence jumping and the Fed's decision due on Wednesday.
Wednesday, October 28, 2026/2 min read
Chip stocks did the work on Tuesday and the rest of Wall Street mostly watched. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.2 percent, or 308 points, to 26,478, and the S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent, or 46 points, to 7,723, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 16 points higher at 52,378, according to Proactive Investors' closing report.
The setting was a Federal Reserve meeting that began on Tuesday with its decision due on Wednesday, and three of the biggest AI spenders, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon, still to report this week, as we set out in our week-ahead guide.
Why did the Nasdaq rise on Tuesday?
Semiconductors led. Reuters, carried by Kitco, had the chip index up 1.8 percent in the morning, a third straight daily gain, in a month when rising borrowing costs have weighed on the AI trade. Easier oil helped too: Brent fell for a second session, though it stayed near its highest level since late April.
Proactive Investors put the easing down to hopes that diplomacy could calm the Middle East, and noted that renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia remain a risk. Brent January futures were down 0.43 percent at $110.26 in the US morning.
The data side was friendly as well. US consumer confidence rose to 91.7 in October, well above the 81.0 forecast.
Which stocks moved the most?
Boeing was the standout loser, down about 10 percent after production-ramp delays and a lower 2026 delivery outlook, and we cover its quarter in a separate piece. Welltower dropped 5.7 percent on a third-quarter net income miss and Rambus lost 3.6 percent despite beating expectations.
Earlier in the session, Reuters flagged Sherwin-Williams down 3.4 percent after a profit miss and Xylem down 8.8 percent after trimming its full-year forecast. On the other side, SoFi, Hilton and UPS raised their full-year outlooks, and Royal Caribbean jumped 6.5 percent in the morning after lifting its profit forecast. General Motors rose about 5 percent on a plan to move its listing to Nasdaq.
Deals kept coming: Intel agreed to buy the quantum software firm Classiq for a reported $2.3 billion, and Nvidia and AMD said they would invest a combined $4 billion in Meta, which has just raised a record $97.5 billion in equity to fund its AI build-out.
What do investors expect from the Fed on Wednesday?
A hold. Reuters said the central bank was widely expected to keep rates steady after raising them last month, but that futures price at least two more hikes by mid-2027 because key inflation gauges remain hot amid the US-Iran conflict. So the interest is in the statement and the press conference, not the decision itself.
The decision lands after the close, in the middle of heavy earnings week, and a week before the 3 November midterm elections. A hawkish tilt would test the AI trade, which has been under pressure from rising borrowing costs this month, while a softer tone could extend a chip rally that is only three sessions old.
Published in The Outspoken Digest
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Outspoken Digest Markets DeskReports for The Outspoken Digest across Business, Crypto.
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