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The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to modestly higher open on Wednesday, with stocks likely to see continued strength after moving notably higher over the two previous sessions.<\/p>\n
Technology stocks may continue to lead the markets<\/span> higher amid renewed optimism about the outlook for the artificial intelligence trade.<\/p>\n Adding to the positive sentiment about AI, U.S.-listed shares of SK Hynix are surging by 7.2 percent in pre-market trading.<\/p>\n The spike by SK Hynix comes after the South Korean chipmaker reported a record quarterly profit and announced over $25 billion in dividends and buybacks.<\/p>\n However, traders may be reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the announcement of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy decision this afternoon.<\/p>\n While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement as well as Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh’s post-meeting press conference.<\/p>\n Some traders may also stick to the sidelines ahead of the release of earnings news from Microsoft (MSFT) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) after the close today’s trading.<\/p>\n “Investors will be looking beyond headline earnings towards cloud growth, AI-related capital expenditure and forward guidance, particularly whether substantial infrastructure investments are generating sustainable returns,” said Daniela Hathorn, Senior Market Analyst at Capital.com.<\/p>\n She added, “Strong results could help restore confidence in the Nasdaq, but higher spending without corresponding improvements in profitability could renew valuation concerns.”<\/p>\n After starting the week off on an upbeat note, stocks showed another notable move to the upside during trading on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way higher, bouncing further off the two-month closing low set last Friday.<\/p>\n The Nasdaq gave back some ground going into the end of the day but still jumped 308.43 points or 1.2 percent to 26,477.60. The S&P 500 also climbed 45.83 points or 0.6 percent to 7,722.60, while the narrower Dow posted a more modest gain, inching up 15.99 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 52,377.57.<\/p>\n Tech stocks continued to recover from the sharp pullback seen late last week amid renewed optimism about the artificial intelligence trade after AI giant Anthropic publicly filed for an initial public offering on Monday.<\/p>\n Potentially adding to the positive mood around AI, Nvidia (NVDA) and Meta (META) have announced they will partner to expand their work on Muse and the Muse family of models.<\/p>\n Under the partnership, Nvidia said it would invest $3 billion in Meta as part of the Facebook parent’s plans to raise up to $95 billion through equity financing.<\/p>\n Shares of Broadcom (AVGO) also surged by 3.8 percent after Bank of America (BAC), Blackstone (BX), Citi (C) and Morgan Stanley (MS) announced a $63 billion transaction to enable the deployment of AI compute capacity, leveraging the chipmaker’s technology<\/span>, for Anthropic.<\/p>\n Concerns about debt-fueled AI infrastructure spending weighed heavily on the markets late last week, although traders have recently shown a propensity to quickly shrug off the worries.<\/p>\n A positive reaction to some of the latest earnings news also generated buying interest, with shares of JetBlue (JBLU) soaring by 19.8 percent.<\/p>\n The spike by JetBlue came after the company reported a wider than expected third quarter loss but said it expects further margin expansion in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n Package delivery giant UPS (UPS) also spiked by 6.5 percent after reporting third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates and raising its full-year guidance.<\/p>\n On the other hand, a steep drop by shares of Boeing (BA) limited the upside for the Dow, with the aerospace giant plummeting by 10.7 percent after reporting a wider than expected third quarter loss. Semiconductor and networking stocks also saw significant strength, contributing to the jump by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.<\/p>\n Outside of the tech sector, airline stocks moved sharply higher amid an extended pullback by the price of crude oil, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 4.7 percent.<\/p>\n Gold stocks also saw considerable strength amid an increase in the price of the precious metal, while oil-producer stocks nosedived.<\/p>\n Commodity, Currency Markets<\/b> <\/p>\n Crude oil futures are surging $1.89 to $101.78 a barrel after tumbling $1.86 to $99.90 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is trading at $4,068.30, down $6.30 compared to the previous session’s close of $4,074.60. On Tuesday, gold climbed $36.20.<\/p>\n On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 157.91 yen compared to the 157.94 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1133 compared to yesterday’s $1.1122.<\/p>\n Asia<\/b><\/p>\n Asian stocks rose broadly on Wednesday as technology shares followed their U.S. peers higher amid renewed optimism over artificial intelligence demand.<\/p>\n Investors also awaited big tech earnings and the upcoming Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision for direction.<\/p>\n Alphabet and Microsoft are scheduled to report their quarterly earnings results later today, followed by Amazon on Thursday.<\/p>\n U.S. Treasury yields rose and the U.S. dollar held near a two-week high ahead of the Federal Reserve’s rate decision later today, followed by rate decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan later this week.<\/p>\n The U.S. central bank is expected to keep rates steady despite inflation data for September coming in hotter than expected.<\/p>\n Gold dipped below $4,050 an ounce after rising 1.1 percent to about $4,060 an ounce in the previous session.<\/p>\n Brent crude futures traded up over 1 percent, climbing above $115 a barrel, paring losses from the previous two sessions as investors monitored election results in Israel and assessed efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n China’s Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.9 percent to 3,681.47, rebounding from two sessions of losses on concerns over slowing economic momentum and a lack of large-scale fiscal stimulus. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.2 percent to 23,094.83.<\/p>\n Japanese markets rose sharply, led by technology shares amid positive sentiment surrounding U.S. technology companies. The Nikkei 225 Index jumped 1.1 percent to 63,954.19 while the broader Topix Index settled 0.1 percent lower at 3,991.71.<\/p>\n Kioxia Holdings soared 13.8 percent and SoftBank Group surged 4.7 percent. Shin-Etsu Chemical, Screen Holdings and Disco Corp added 3-5 percent.<\/p>\n Seoul stocks skyrocketed to hit a two-week high, propelled by rallies in chipmakers and other tech stocks. The Kospi Index spiked 6.6 percent to 6,012.44.<\/p>\n SK Hynix shares soared nearly 11 percent after the global AI memory leader reported a more than sevenfold surge in quarterly operating profit to a record high and unveiled plans to return 100 trillion won ($75 billion) to shareholders. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics climbed 9 percent and SK Square advanced 11.2 percent.<\/p>\n Australian markets ended on a flat note, giving up early gains after September inflation came in above forecasts, raising expectations of a Reserve Bank of Australia rate hike at next week’s meeting.<\/p>\n Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P\/NZX-50 Index finished marginally higher at 13,691.33, erasing morning losses after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand unexpectedly kept policy rates on hold in a 4-3 vote and said tighter policy is likely but conditional.<\/p>\n Europe<\/b><\/p>\n European stocks are subdued on Wednesday as traders await the 2026 U.K. autumn budget, earnings from big tech companies and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision.<\/p>\n Brent crude futures rose over 1 percent to trade above $115 a barrel after U.S. President Donald Trump stated that further U.S. strikes against Iran after the midterm elections remain a possibility.<\/p>\n “I can’t tell you that, but anything is possible,” Trump said when asked whether the U.S would attack Iran again after next week’s midterm elections.<\/p>\n While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.3 percent.<\/p>\n Swiss PC peripherals maker Logitech International has plummeted after its second quarter earnings and revenue missed estimates.<\/p>\n Generic drugmaker Sandoz has also shown a significant move to the downside after cutting its full-year sales forecast.<\/p>\n French building -materials giant Saint-Gobain has also fallen after posting a 1.8 percent increase in third quarter sales and confirming its 2026 outlook.<\/p>\n Spirits group Remy Cointreau has also slumped after posting a 4.2 percent increase in organic second-quarter sales.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, London-listed lender Standard Chartered has surged after boosting its annual income and profitability forecasts.<\/p>\n Stellantis has also advanced. The struggling carmaker stuck to guidance for the year after reporting a modest third quarter operating income increase.<\/p>\n German lender Deutsche Bank has also shown a strong move to the upside after its third quarter profit topped forecasts.<\/p>\n U.S. Economic News<\/b><\/p>\n At 10:30 am ET, the Energy Information Administration is due to release its report on crude oil inventories in the week ended October 23rd. Crude oil inventories are expected to edge down by 0.3 million barrels after falling by 3.1 million barrels in the previous week.<\/p>\n The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its monetary policy decision at 2 pm ET, followed by Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh’s post-meeting press conference at 2:30 pm ET. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the tech sector’s best performances, resulting in a 4.1 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.<\/p>\n