Ray: Good morning, this is Biscuits and Tickers for Wednesday, October 28. I'm Ray.

Nora: And I'm Nora. It's Fed day. The rate decision lands at 2 p.m. Eastern, and Microsoft and Alphabet report after the close. Futures are mixed, chip stocks are rallying on a blowout quarter from S K Hynix, and oil is climbing again after a claimed strike on Saudi Arabia's largest refinery.

Ray: Start with the scoreboard. On Tuesday the S and P 500 rose six tenths of a percent to 7,722, within about one percent of its record, according to the Associated Press. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2 percent, and the Nasdaq 100 rose 1.3 percent. The Dow was roughly flat.

Nora: This morning, per Yahoo Finance and Reuters, Nasdaq futures are up about four tenths of a percent and S and P futures are up about a tenth. Dow futures are down about two tenths, and Russell 2000 futures are slightly lower. The VIX volatility index sits near 17 and a half.

Ray: The 10-year Treasury yield is holding just under 5 percent, at about 4.99 percent. The euro is near 1 dollar 11, and the dollar buys about 158 yen. Gold is down about four tenths of a percent, near 4,060 dollars an ounce. Bitcoin is up about 1 percent, near 81,000 dollars.

Nora: Overseas, the A P reports South Korea's Kospi jumped more than 5 percent on the chip rally. Japan's Nikkei gained 1.3 percent and Taiwan gained 1.8 percent, while Hong Kong slipped. Il Sole 24 Ore says Europe was set for a soft start as oil rose, and the U K's autumn budget is in focus there today.

Ray: Now the calendar. At 8:30 Eastern we get the advance September goods trade balance, along with retail and wholesale inventories. Weekly crude inventories from the Energy Department are due at 10:30. Then the main event: the Fed statement at 2 p.m. and Chair Kevin Warsh's press conference at 2:30.

Nora: Before the open, GE Vernova, Boston Scientific, Biogen, Vertiv, A D P, Phillips 66 and Garmin have reported, along with Deutsche Bank and U B S in Europe. After the close it's Microsoft and Alphabet, plus ServiceNow, KLA, Chipotle, eBay, Ford, T Mobile, Fortinet and Carvana.

Ray: Thursday morning brings Eli Lilly, Mastercard, Caterpillar, Merck and Shell. Thursday also brings September P C E inflation and the first read on third-quarter G D P. Reuters says economists expect growth of about 3.2 percent.

Nora: The Fed story. Markets widely expect the Fed to hold rates steady today after it raised rates last month. Inflation is still running hot, driven partly by energy costs tied to the Middle East conflict. Reuters, citing L S E G data, says traders still price in at least three more quarter-point hikes by late 2027.

Ray: Former Fed Vice Chair Alan Blinder told Yahoo Finance he expects a hawkish pause. The focus is Warsh's tone at 2:30. Listen for any signal that a December hike is live, and for how the Fed weighs oil near 100 dollars against a still-solid economy.

Nora: Next, memory chips. S K Hynix reported a record quarter overnight. The A P says operating profit came in at 83.3 trillion won. Yahoo Finance says that is up more than sevenfold from a year ago, on revenue that more than quadrupled. Its U S-listed shares are up about 8 percent before the bell, per Reuters.

Ray: The read-through is broad. Reuters says Micron is up about 4 percent, Western Digital about 4.5 percent, and A M D and Marvell more than 1 percent. Samsung Electronics, which reports Thursday, rose 8.5 percent in Seoul. Not everything is up: Seagate, ticker S T X, is down about 3.7 percent after its results.

Nora: Another AI financing story. Bloomberg reports that Wall Street banks and Blackstone have arranged about 63 billion dollars to finance Broadcom chips for Anthropic. Broadcom, ticker A V G O, rose about 4 percent on Tuesday on the news.

Ray: Bloomberg also reports that banks are lining up about 21 billion dollars of bonds for the deal. It is one of the largest single AI hardware financings yet. It is also a reminder of how much of this build-out now runs on debt markets as well as company cash.

Nora: Oil is back in the headlines. Yemen's Houthis say they hit Saudi Arabia's largest refinery, a 550,000 barrel per day plant, with a missile on Tuesday. Reuters, via Business Recorder, says Saudi authorities had not immediately confirmed the strike.

Ray: Brent rose about 1.3 percent overnight to roughly 115 dollars a barrel. U S crude is near 101 to 102 dollars, up close to 2 percent per Yahoo Finance. That reverses some of Tuesday's drop of nearly 2 dollars. Separately, OPEC plus is expected to hold its December output targets steady at a meeting on Sunday.

Nora: On to the movers. Robinhood Markets, ticker H O O D, is down about 8 percent. Reuters says profit missed estimates as crypto trading cooled. The company's release shows record revenue of 1.42 billion dollars, but crypto revenue fell 55 percent from a year ago while prediction-market revenue surged.

Ray: GE Vernova, ticker G E V, is up roughly 3 to 4 percent. Orders nearly doubled to 29 billion dollars, it raised its 2026 guidance, and it doubled its buyback authorization to 20 billion dollars. Its backlog reached 197 billion dollars.

Nora: Alphabet, ticker G O O G L, is up about 1 percent ahead of tonight's report. That follows a report from The Information that OpenAI plans to buy Google's AI chips. Visa is down about 1.7 percent after its results. Boeing fell nearly 11 percent on Tuesday after a bigger-than-expected loss, per the A P.

Ray: Among early reporters, Robinhood's earnings calendar data show Vertiv, Phillips 66 and Deutsche Bank beating per-share estimates, while U B S and Stellantis fell short. By sector, semiconductors and memory are leading for a second day. Energy has support from crude, while the Dow's industrial and financial names lag.

Nora: Here's what to watch today. At 8:30, the goods trade balance and inventory data. At 10:30, weekly crude inventories, with oil near 100 dollars. At 2 p.m. the Fed statement, and at 2:30 Chair Warsh's press conference. After the bell, Microsoft and Alphabet, where cloud growth and A I spending plans are the focus.

Ray: Also watch whether the 10-year yield holds below 5 percent through the Fed, and whether the chip rally broadens or fades into the close. Before the open tomorrow, it's P C E, G D P, Lilly and Mastercard.

Nora: That's Biscuits and Tickers for Wednesday, October 28. This briefing is for information only and is not investment advice. I'm Nora.

Ray: And I'm Ray. Have a good session.