End-of-day recap

The Fed held rates steady on Oct 28, 2026, while AI hardware earnings drove the largest single-stock moves of the session.

The S&P 500 closed at 7,744.20 (+0.28%), the Nasdaq at 26,549.85 (+0.27%), the Dow at 52,475.10 (+0.19%) and the Russell 2000 at 2,830.51 (+0.41%). The VIX fell 3.48% to 16.91; the 10-year yield sat at 5.05%.

The Fed held at 3.75%-4.00% in a 10-2 vote. Lisa Cook and Beth Hammack dissented for a quarter-point hike, and Chair Kevin Warsh said inflation is too high as the Fed awaits more data.

Technology led all 11 sectors at +0.80% while Utilities lagged at -0.84%, as growth-sensitive tech held up and defensives underperformed after Warsh flagged persistent inflation.

Vertiv (VRT) rose 16.48% to 242.94, a 93.5B market cap. Q3 non-GAAP EPS of 2.21 beat by 0.39 and revenue of 4.31B beat by 550M, up about 60%. It raised FY2026 guidance on AI data center power and cooling demand.

F5 (FFIV) fell 20.43% to 365.53, a 20.7B market cap. It beat Q4 numbers, but FY2027 guidance of 8% to 9% revenue growth and non-GAAP EPS of 18.00 to 18.30 disappointed investors.

Genmab (GMAB) jumped 28.25% to a record 57.29, a 35.2B market cap. Petosemtamab with Merck's Keytruda cut the risk of death by 50% at a first interim analysis in PD-L1-positive head and neck cancer.

Enphase Energy (ENPH) dropped 16.03% to 24.99, a 3.3B market cap, after missing Q3 adjusted earnings estimates and issuing weak Q4 revenue guidance. A premarket slide of more than 20% held all session.

AxoGen (AXGN) rose 31.47% to 49.25, a 2.9B market cap, after raising FY2026 revenue guidance to at least 290M versus a 283.2M estimate. Jefferies raised its target to 60 and Mizuho to 65.

Micron (MU) gained 5.86% to 983.23, a 1.11T market cap, after SK Hynix reported quarterly profit up more than sevenfold on AI memory demand.

Sandisk (SNDK) climbed 7.66% to 1,404.77, a 203.0B market cap, as investors priced in improving AI memory demand ahead of its own earnings.

Options volume was led by Tesla at 3,912,499 contracts and Nvidia at 3,730,478, followed by Micron at 1,911,922 and Apple at 1,606,075, as desks positioned around the Fed.

Etsy (ETSY), near 92.35-92.63, drew five target raises: Goldman Sachs to 108, Truist to 106, Canaccord to 105, and Jefferies and Deutsche Bank to 100.

At Corebridge Financial (CRBG), 10 percent owner Nippon Life Insurance bought 182,826 shares at 34.95 for 6.39M on October 26.

After hours, Advantest (ATEYY) rose 7.4% to 241.57. Q2 FY26 EPS of 1.67 beat a 1.32 estimate, revenue of 3.03B beat 2.74B, and it raised its full-year outlook on record AI chip-test demand.

With the Fed on hold, AI earnings set the session's direction.

Not financial advice. For informational and educational purposes only.