Screens display the Fed rate announcement as traders work on the floor of the NYSE in New York City, US, Oct. 28, 2026.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
U.S. equity futures dipped early Thursday as investors digest the latest round of hyperscaler earnings.
Nasdaq-100 futures lost 1.4%. S&P 500 futures declined 0.5%. Dow Futures rose 0.3%.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.42% while the Topix slipped 0.38%. The Kospi declined 2.14%, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 2.75%. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was 0.46% higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was flat, while mainland China’s CSI 300 declined 1.20%.
In after-hours trading, Microsoft advanced 3% after growth in the software giant’s Azure cloud infrastructure business helped it post beats on the top and bottom lines in the fiscal first quarter, per LSEG.
That contrasts sharply with Alphabet’s 9% slide after adjusted earnings per share and revenue missed expectations in the third quarter, and the company posted negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion. The company kept its full-year capital expenditures forecast at $195 billion to $205 billion.
The results come at a time when the artificial intelligence trade is in focus. AI stocks, such as the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) and the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM), have been through a rough patch for most of October, only to perk up in recent days.
Chips helped lift the broader market to a winning regular session on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rising for a third straight day as Micron Technology jumped almost 6% and Broadcom added more than 2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also eked out a gain, advancing 0.3%.
Earlier Wednesday, the Federal Reserve decided to hold steady on rates, leaving the central bank’s benchmark interest rate in a range between 3.75% and 4%. The decision to hold was widely expected as the Federal Open Market Committee issued a quarter-percentage-point hike in September.
This time, central bank policymakers pointed out that inflation “remains elevated,” but also said that it was awaiting the “accumulation of more information” before it takes further steps.
The Fed’s decision “can be interpreted as mildly dovish at the margin, but we think it is better viewed as an expression of patience rather than a shift away from a tightening bias,” said Daniel Siluk, head of global short duration and liquidity at Janus Henderson Investors. “The door remains open to further tightening, but the Committee appears willing to wait for incoming data to validate the need for additional action.”
Traders will get further insight into the economy on Thursday, when the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index report for September comes out. The PCE is a preferred inflation gauge for the Federal Reserve. The first reading of third-quarter GDP and weekly jobless claims are also due.
On the earnings front, all eyes will be on quarterly reports from Caterpillar and Eli Lilly in the morning, followed by Amazon and Intel after the market close.