Nasdaq Composite Jumps 175 Points to 26,344 as Chip Stocks Rally Ahead of Fed Decision

Mumbai, 27 October 2026: The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 175.08 points, or 0.67%, to 26,344.46 in early trading on Tuesday as technology and semiconductor stocks extended gains for a second consecutive session. The tech-heavy index opened at 26,286.31 and traded within a day’s range of 26,269.43 to 26,372.21, supported by renewed enthusiasm in artificial intelligence-related shares following Anthropic’s public IPO filing.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 29.01 points, or 0.38%, to 7,705.78, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) hovered near the flatline at 52,342.53, down just 19.05 points or 0.04%. The Russell 2000 (^RUT) gained 10.15 points, or 0.36%, to 2,796.57, reflecting a broadly positive opening across US equity benchmarks.

Trading volume across the Nasdaq reached 1.31 billion shares, below the average daily volume of 8.13 billion, as market participants positioned themselves ahead of a busy earnings calendar and the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting that commenced on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 opened at 7,699.47 and traded between 7,697.12 and 7,708.85, while the Dow opened at 52,277.49 and ranged between 52,277.49 and 52,477.91. The market breadth reflected a clear tilt towards growth stocks, with advancing issues outnumbering decliners on the Nasdaq.

Chip Stocks Surge Up to 6.2% as AI Trade Revives

Semiconductor and artificial intelligence infrastructure stocks led the advance, with several components posting substantial gains. Western Digital surged 6.20%, while Broadcom climbed 4.61% and Advanced Micro Devices rose 4.03%. Intel gained 3.38%, Seagate Technology added 3.87%, and Applied Digital Corporation jumped 9.61%. Micron Technology rose 2.07%, Marvell Technology gained 2.71%, and ARM Holdings added 1.41%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which tracks the performance of major chipmakers, had jumped 3% overnight—its biggest daily gain in more than a month—as investors returned to companies supplying AI infrastructure.

The rally in chip stocks followed Anthropic’s disclosure on Monday of rapid revenue growth alongside steep losses in its IPO filing. The Claude chatbot maker reported first-half revenue of approximately $16.3 billion, up about 1,300% year-on-year, but also flagged a net loss of roughly $80.7 billion for the same period. The filing highlighted both the commercial potential of generative AI and the substantial costs of developing advanced models, reigniting optimism across the semiconductor supply chain. South Korean chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics climbed 4% and 6% respectively in Seoul trading, while Japan’s Advantest surged nearly 10% and SoftBank Group jumped more than 5%. The KOSPI index briefly gained more than 4% and closed 3.1% higher at 5,638.34, while the Nikkei 225 added 1.7% to 63,268.37.

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Nvidia’s $3 Billion Meta Bet Lifts AI Infrastructure Shares

Nvidia Corporation rose 0.79% to $216.70 after the AI chip heavyweight announced it would invest $3 billion in Meta Platforms’ equity offering. Nvidia Corporation, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, designs graphics processing units and AI accelerators under the ticker NVDA on the Nasdaq, with products spanning data centre GPUs, gaming chips, and software platforms.

The investment follows Meta’s disclosure on Monday that it plans to raise up to $95 billion through stock offerings, including an initial $35 billion raise in common and preferred shares, to fund its aggressive AI infrastructure build-out. Nvidia also stated it would partner with Meta to expand their work on the Muse family of models to improve inference and training performance.

Meta shares, however, slipped 1.00% as the dilutive impact of the massive equity offering weighed on sentiment. The social media giant revealed that its main chip suppliers—Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom—expressed interest in purchasing up to $5 billion in aggregate of the offered shares.

The collaboration underscores the deepening ties between AI hardware providers and hyperscale cloud operators as they race to build out data centre capacity. Broadcom advanced 4.61%, AMD gained 4.03%, and Micron rose 2.07% in sympathy with the expanded AI infrastructure commitments.

Alphabet and Microsoft Earnings Loom as Fed Meeting Begins

Investors are positioning ahead of Wednesday’s crucial catalysts: third-quarter earnings from Alphabet and Microsoft, followed by Amazon on Thursday. These results from the “Magnificent Seven” constituents will provide fresh signals on capital expenditure trends, free cash flow generation, and the sustainability of AI-driven spending.

The Roundhill MAGS ETF, which tracks the septet of mega-cap tech stocks, edged higher after closing up approximately 1% on Monday. Tesla rose 2.85% further after jumping 5% to pace the group on Monday. Alphabet gained 0.84%, while Microsoft slipped 0.36% and Amazon added 0.67%.

The Federal Reserve also began its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, with an interest rate decision scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Policymakers raised the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points in September to a range of 3.75% to 4%, the first increase in three years, citing persistent inflation well above the 2% target.

Market pricing indicates just 11% odds of another rate hike this week, per CME Group data. The 10-year Treasury yield held steady at almost 5.00%, while the 2-year yield stood at 4.72%. The US dollar index was 0.2% higher at 102.14, while gold futures declined 0.1% to $4,035 an ounce and Bitcoin traded around $80,100, slightly higher over the past 24 hours.

SoFi Jumps 11.7% While Royal Caribbean Climbs 7.7%

In individual stock moves, SoFi Technologies surged 11.74% to $16.16 after the fintech company reported better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its full-year guidance. Royal Caribbean Cruises jumped 7.67% to $302.26 after posting adjusted earnings of $6.57 per share, comfortably beating the $6.36 consensus estimate, on revenue of $5.59 billion, up 9% year-on-year.

The cruise operator lifted its fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $17.85 to $17.95, up from its prior forecast of $17.73 to $17.87. Royal Caribbean’s chief executive said the results reflected continued strong consumer demand and that 2027 bookings were pacing ahead of historical levels at higher rates.

JetBlue Airways soared 15.61% despite reporting a larger-than-expected third-quarter loss, as the airline said it expected further margin expansion in the fourth quarter. UPS gained 1.45% after the delivery giant reported better-than-expected third-quarter results and raised its full-year revenue guidance to approximately $92.6 billion, up from its previous expectations of $91.2 billion.

The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.69 per share on revenue of $22.9 billion, beating analyst estimates of $1.63 per share on $22.29 billion in revenue. Novartis advanced 1.31% after reporting third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.46 on revenue of $14.52 billion, while PayPal gained 1% after raising its full-year profit forecast despite a revenue miss, and Corning added nearly 3% on third-quarter results that exceeded expectations.

Coca-Cola Slips 0.4% as North America Demand Cools

Coca-Cola Company declined 0.42% to $92.32 despite reporting third-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.91 per share, above the $0.88 expected by analysts, on revenue of $13.4 billion, also higher than estimates of $12.9 billion. The beverage giant raised its earnings outlook but flagged slowing demand in its North American business. Overall unit case volume grew 5%, exceeding the roughly 3% expected, led once again by Coke Zero, which grew approximately 16% year-on-year. Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Light grew by 6%. The company’s North America business slowed even as overall volumes expanded, and the stock traded lower in premarket hours before the opening bell.

Boeing Falls 1.7% After Mixed Third-Quarter Earnings

Boeing fell 1.70% after the aerospace giant reported third-quarter revenue of $24.19 billion, beating the $23.84 billion estimate, but posted an adjusted loss of 34 cents per share versus the 21 cents loss per share that analysts anticipated. The company reported a net loss of 26 cents per share on revenue of $24.2 billion, while Wall Street analysts expected a loss of 25 cents a share and revenue of $23.9 billion.

Whirlpool dropped 1.00% after posting a surprise quarterly loss of $0.21 per share when analysts expected an adjusted profit of $0.67 per share, with net sales declining nearly 9% year-on-year to $3.68 billion. The appliance maker now sees a full-year adjusted loss of $1.30 per share, compared with analyst expectations of an adjusted profit of $1.06 per share.

HSBC Holdings slumped 6.57% after the bank’s bumper profits undershot market expectations, dragging the FTSE 100 lower by 0.96% in London trading. Mercedes-Benz shed 3.4% in Frankfurt after the German carmaker cut its full-year profit margin outlook on weakness in the Chinese market and higher costs, now expecting an adjusted return on sales of 2% to 3% in 2026, down from its previous guidance of 3% to 5%. Zai Lab fell 6.41%, Xylem dropped 7.98%, Applied Industrial Technologies lost 6.69%, and Moderna plunged 5.38% to $188.15, making it one of the weakest Nasdaq-100 components in early trading.

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Oil Eases to $109.95 as Middle East Talks Lift Sentiment

Brent crude oil futures declined 0.71% to $109.95 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate slipped below $101 per barrel as investors monitored diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan held talks with Iranian officials in Tehran aimed at easing Middle East tensions and establishing open negotiating channels to “prevent the return of military escalation.” The four countries agreed to continue talks with a view to strengthening cooperation in peace and security, according to Iranian state media.

However, losses were limited as attacks by Iran-aligned Houthis on key producer Saudi Arabia kept supply worries alive. Rising diesel costs, which reached an all-time high of $6.53 per gallon in late September and were trading at $6.35 per gallon on Tuesday—an increase of approximately 74% year-on-year—continue to pose inflationary risks across the broader economy.

Anthropic IPO Filing Discloses $500 Billion AI Compute Deals

The Anthropic IPO filing disclosed over $500 billion in AI compute spending commitments across major technology companies, including Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Broadcom, and SpaceX. The company, which plans to trade under the ticker ANT on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, is reportedly being valued at around $1.5 trillion, down from earlier projections of $2 trillion.

The offering could raise $100 billion or more, according to reports. Anthropic’s filing also revealed that more than 1,900 customers paid the company at least $1 million over the past year, nearly double the tally in April. The company’s seven co-founders, including CEO Dario Amodei, will retain 50.1% voting power following the listing.

Anthropic is a public benefit corporation, meaning it aims to build advanced AI “for the long-term benefit of humanity” while also seeking to raise a very large amount of money. The filing laid out risks specific to an industry that has faced a string of reports in recent months of AI systems behaving in unexpected and harmful ways.

The company’s co-founders wrote in a letter released alongside the IPO document that “there may be times when we choose to advance more slowly than we could in order to make our systems safer, even if that puts us at a competitive disadvantage.” The planned listing has refocused attention on the ability of AI companies to attract public-market investors despite concerns about profitability and heavy infrastructure spending.

Durable Goods Orders Rise 1.8% in September, Beating Forecasts

On the economic data front, the Commerce Department reported that durable goods orders increased 1.8% in September, up from a 0.1% increase in August and slightly better than the 1.7% consensus forecast. Excluding transportation, orders increased 0.5%, while they jumped 2.2% when excluding defence. Core capital goods rose 0.5% during the month, below predictions for a rise of 0.7%.

The data suggests continued capital expenditure momentum, particularly in AI-driven investments, though the pace of core capital goods orders fell slightly short of expectations. The Conference Board consumer confidence reading for October was expected at 80.5, down slightly from 81.9 in September, while new home sales were forecast to fall to 651,000 in September from 684,000 in August amid high mortgage rates and inflation worries.

In the UK, in-store inflation rose to its highest level in over two years this month, with shop price inflation reaching 2.1% on an annual basis during 1 October and 7 October, led by food inflation, which rose to 2.9%. The British Retail Consortium said the “dam is starting to break on the huge wave of costs retailers have absorbed over the last two years.”

In France, consumer confidence deteriorated significantly in October amid public unrest, rioting, and demonstrations, falling to its lowest level since June 2013, according to the national statistics agency Insee. Optimism toward the future standard of living saw a “clear downturn,” with an increase in fears about unemployment.

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Global Markets Mixed as KOSPI Gains 3.1% and FTSE Falls

Asian shares mostly gained as benchmarks in Tokyo and Seoul were lifted by buying of AI-related stocks. South Korea’s KOSPI briefly gained more than 4% and closed 3.1% higher at 5,638.34, with SK Hynix rallying 5.2% and Samsung Electronics gaining 4.2%. South Korea’s economy expanded at a better-than-expected 3.4% annual rate in July-September, according to data released Tuesday, providing further support for the region’s technology rally. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 1.7% to 63,268.37, with testing equipment maker Advantest jumping 9.6% and OpenAI investor SoftBank Group climbing 5%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up early gains, slipping 0.7% to 23,041.32, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 1.3% to 3,648.30.

In Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX rose 0.3%, the CAC 40 in Paris jumped 0.4%, and Britain’s FTSE 100 tumbled 0.8%. The Stoxx 600 fell 0.18% in early trading. General Motors, citing a “technology-driven strategy,” announced it would move its stock listing to the Nasdaq after 115 years on the New York Stock Exchange, with shares expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq in mid-November. GM began trading on the NYSE in 1911, and its shares jumped 2.8% before markets opened. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.5% to 8,852.10, while India’s Sensex slipped 0.5% and Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.1%.

Market Breadth Mixed as Consumer Staples Outperform Semiconductors

Despite Tuesday’s tech-led rally, October has seen a notable rotation within the S&P 500. Consumer staples are headed for their best month in nearly five years as semiconductors crater, and the average S&P 500 stock is on track for its sharpest turnaround against the index in decades. The equal-weighted version of the S&P 500 has pulled away from the market-cap-weighted index, reflecting broader participation beyond the largest technology names. On Monday, chip stocks bounced, with 57 of 60 in a semiconductor basket rising, and the S&P 500 beat its equal-weighted twin, though the move barely dented the month’s overall scoreboard. Apple slipped 0.17%, Microsoft declined 0.36%, Meta fell 1.00%, and Netflix lost 0.38%, while Tesla gained 2.85% and Amazon added 0.67% among the largest technology names.

The CBOE Volatility Index remained subdued, reflecting a relatively calm trading environment ahead of the Fed decision and major technology earnings. Walmart declined 0.62%, Costco fell 0.66%, PepsiCo slipped 0.80%, and Mondelez lost 0.94% among consumer staples, while Constellation Energy gained 2.48% and American Electric Power added 0.12%. In the Dow, Goldman Sachs rose 1.98%, Caterpillar gained 1.82%, JPMorgan added 0.32%, and Johnson & Johnson rose 0.22%, while Boeing fell 1.70%, IBM lost 0.80%, and Salesforce declined 1.48%. The mixed performance across sectors underscored the market’s focus on upcoming earnings and monetary policy signals rather than broad-based directional conviction.

Market participants should monitor Wednesday’s Federal Reserve rate decision and policy statement for signals on the future path of interest rates amid persistent inflation and rising energy costs. The release of third-quarter earnings from Alphabet and Microsoft will provide critical data points on AI-related capital expenditures, free cash flow trends, and the sustainability of current spending levels across hyperscalers. Additionally, updates on Middle East diplomatic efforts and their impact on crude oil prices warrant attention, as do forthcoming earnings reports from Amazon and other major technology companies later in the week.