The Fed gave the market the hold it expected on Wednesday — 3.75%–4.00% in a 10–2 vote — and the after-close earnings split the AI trade in two: Alphabet reported negative free cash flow of $9.1 billion for a second straight quarter and missed on earnings ($2.12 vs about $3.02 expected, FactSet via Barron's), sending the stock down 8.5% after hours, while Microsoft beat on Azure growth of 48% and jumped about 4%.
Recap
At the official closes (Robinhood), SPY rose 0.34% to $772.31, QQQ rose 0.59% to $725.48 and DIA rose 0.27% to $524.68. The S&P 500 index printed 7,743.98 (+0.28% vs Tuesday's 7,722.60) and the Nasdaq-100 printed 29,813.16 (+0.55% vs 29,651.44), with the VIX down 3.48% at 16.91 (Robinhood index quotes); the Dow rose 97.53 points (+0.19%) to 52,475.10 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.27% to 26,549.85 (WSJ). The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.75%–4.00% in a 10–2 vote, with Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack and Governor Lisa Cook dissenting in favor of a quarter-point hike (WSJ); the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 5.044% (WSJ) and traders priced about an 85% likelihood of a December hike (CME FedWatch via Investopedia). Chips carried the regular session again: the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) rose 2.11% to $521.85, Micron jumped 5.75% to $982.12 after SK Hynix's record quarter, SanDisk rose 7.62% to $1,404.30, Seagate rose 4.49% to $697.83 and Broadcom rose 2.82% to $351.97 (Robinhood closes). Then the bell rang and the verdicts diverged. Microsoft beat — adjusted EPS of $4.89 vs $4.71 expected, revenue of $92.28 billion vs $90.62 billion expected, Azure revenue up 48% — and its shares jumped about 4% after hours (WSJ; Barron's). Alphabet missed — EPS of $2.12 vs about $3.02 expected and revenue of $127.6 billion just shy of the roughly $128 billion call — and, with free cash flow negative for a second straight quarter at -$9.1 billion despite Google Cloud revenue more than doubling to $30.7 billion, its shares fell 8.5% after hours (Barron's; Reuters). Bitcoin's Robinhood evening mark was $81,144.20, holding above $80,000.
Mag 7 on Wednesday, with Alphabet leading the group into its after-close report. Source: Robinhood official closes, October 28, 2026.
The Mag 7 split into the close on Wednesday (Robinhood official closes): Alphabet $325.63 (+1.58%) led the group in the regular session before its after-hours drop. Amazon rose 0.61% to $254.65, Microsoft was nearly flat at $531.73 (+0.08%) before its after-hours jump, Tesla fell 0.74% to $404.46, Nvidia fell 1.17% to $215.39, Meta fell 1.26% to $612.41 and Apple fell 0.93% to $343.86 after unveiling a revamped touchscreen MacBook Pro (TradingView). Elsewhere, earnings movers ran hot: Vertiv soared 16.56% to $243.10 after its morning beat, Oracle jumped 10.63% to $144.40, CoreWeave rose 7.32% to $63.93, Nebius rose 7.10% to $182.57, Etsy gained 5.38% to $92.38, Arm rose 4.14% to $235.97 and KLA rose 3.28% to $158.70, while Robinhood fell 3.33% to $91.41, ServiceNow fell 3.16% to $149.89 ahead of its own after-close report and GE Vernova slipped 1.84% to $878.57 after its morning print (Robinhood closes).
Watch tomorrow: whether Alphabet's after-hours drop and Microsoft's jump hold at Thursday's open, Amazon's earnings after Thursday's close, US GDP and PCE inflation data on Thursday, tonight's after-close reactions from ServiceNow, KLA and T-Mobile, and whether December hike pricing (about 85%, CME FedWatch via Investopedia) survives the data.
The OnDeck Book
Trading fell 7.52% on Wednesday and Agentic rose 0.64% (percent only) vs SPY +0.34%, QQQ +0.59% and DIA +0.27% (Robinhood portfolio pull, ~4:35 PM ET). Trading day P&L was -$4,101.89 on a core-equity basis (Robinhood: core equity $50,450.93 vs adjusted previous close $54,552.82) — the loss sat in the options book, where a larger SPCX/NVDA call position was marked down as SPCX fell 2.26%. Positions (Wednesday official closes, Robinhood): SPCX 150 shares, avg $132.13, close $145.22 (-2.26% on the day), +9.91% vs avg cost, unrealized +$1,963.47; SOFI 200 shares, avg $17.10, close $17.14 (+4.51%), +0.25% vs avg, unrealized +$8.50; QUBT 700 shares, avg $8.21, close $6.93 (+0.87%), -15.59% vs avg, unrealized -$896.00. Options (adjusted marks at Wednesday's close, Robinhood; total market value $10,021): SPCX $148 calls expiring Tue Nov 4 — 7 long, clearing cost $2,698 total, mark $2.90, market value $2,030; SPCX $148 calls expiring Fri Nov 6 — 11 long, clearing cost $4,903 total, mark $3.53, market value $3,883; SPCX $152.50 calls expiring Fri Nov 6 — 7 long, clearing cost $1,940 total, mark $2.02, market value $1,414; NVDA $215 calls expiring Tue Nov 4 — 2 long, clearing cost $880 total, mark $4.60, market value $920; NVDA $217.50 calls expiring Tue Nov 4 — 4 long, clearing cost $1,814 total, mark $3.35, market value $1,340; NVDA $222.50 calls expiring Fri Nov 6 — 2 long, clearing cost $720 total, mark $2.17, market value $434. Today's option fills — buys ($10,184.00 gross debit): 7 SPCX $148 Nov 4 calls (5 at $3.90 at 9:32 AM ET and 2 at $3.74 at 9:33 AM ET), 8 SPCX $148 Nov 6 calls (2 at $4.35, 3 at $4.25 and 3 at $3.56), 5 SPCX $152.50 Nov 6 calls at $2.28, 2 NVDA $217.50 Nov 4 calls at $4.40 and 2 NVDA $222.50 Nov 6 calls at $3.60, plus two same-day SPCX Oct 28 positions (5 of the $147 calls at $1.24; 3 of the $141 calls at $3.15/$3.15/$2.83). Sells ($1,196.00 gross credit): all 6 SPCX $152.50 Oct 28 calls at $0.02 at 12:25 PM ET (realized -$1,026.00 gross of fees on the $1,038.00 clearing basis); the SPCX $141 Oct 28 day position closed for $1,144.00 against $913.00 of buys (realized +$231.00 gross of fees); the 5 SPCX $147 Oct 28 calls sold at $0.08 at 3:04 PM ET for $40.00 (realized -$580.00 gross of fees). Total realized on today's closes: -$1,375.00 gross of fees. Three further option buy orders were cancelled and one failed today. No equity orders in Trading or Agentic today; no crypto orders today. Futures: none — the position was fully closed on Oct 22 (web-verified on robinhood.com), and the API aggregate futures market value reads $0. Crypto: ETH 3.6 coins, clearing cost basis $8,608.00, mark $2,353.20 (Robinhood crypto quote, ~4:35 PM ET), indicative value $8,471.51; BTC mark $81,144.20 (quote only; no BTC position); USDG 1.0 unit on the API spot line (the API shows only the un-lent unit; Crypto Earn totals were last web-verified 2026-10-15 at 102.88 units total); dust: CC 1.0, DOGE 1.0, USDC 0.00993.
Wednesday's standouts: Vertiv and Oracle ripped on earnings while Robinhood and ServiceNow slid into their prints. Source: Robinhood official closes, October 28, 2026.
Sources: Robinhood (official closes, broker records, index and crypto quotes, portfolio pull), WSJ (Fed vote, Dow and Nasdaq Composite closes, 10-year, Microsoft), Barron's (Alphabet and Microsoft prints, consensus), Reuters (Alphabet), Investopedia (CME FedWatch), TradingView (MacBook Pro). No buy or sell advice.