Thu Oct 29, 2026 edition
Google's $9B cash burn, Azure's 48% boost: GDP and PCE at 8:30 ET
AP's Morning Brief · Thursday, October 29, 2026 · 8:30 AM ET · covers the Wed Oct 28, 2026 session
Brief art: AP's Morning Brief.
Good morning. The Fed held rates on Wednesday but two officials wanted a hike, and stocks still notched a third straight gain. After the bell, Big Tech split: Microsoft rose on cloud strength while Alphabet slumped on a rare double miss. Today brings GDP and PCE inflation, the ECB, and Amazon after the close.
Guess That Stock Chart
Chart: AP's Morning Brief. Data: Yahoo Finance, daily closes Apr 29 to Oct 28, 2026. [3]
Hint: this megacap reports after the bell today, and its earnings call starts at 5:00pm ET. Answer at the bottom.
Stocks
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,743.98 | +0.28% |
| Dow | 52,475.10 | +0.19% |
| Nasdaq | 26,549.85 | +0.27% |
| S&P/TSX | 36,265.10 | +0.26% |
As of Wed Oct 28 close · Sources: CNBC (U.S.), Yahoo Finance (TSX) [1] [3]
Search Party's Over
Chart: AP's Morning Brief. Data: CNBC (LSEG estimates). [4]
What happened? Alphabet (GOOGL) slumped more than 10% in extended trading after its first revenue-and-profit miss in nearly four years. Adjusted earnings were $2.67 a share versus $3.02 expected, and revenue was $127.58 billion versus $128.22 billion, per LSEG. Free cash flow was negative $9.07 billion. [4]
Why it matters: Alphabet said capital spending will increase significantly in 2027. [4] Investors are asking how fast AI spending pays off.
Cloud Nine
Chart: AP's Morning Brief. Data: CNBC (LSEG estimates). [5]
What happened? Microsoft (MSFT) rose 4% in extended trading. Adjusted earnings of $4.89 a share beat the $4.73 estimate, and revenue of $92.28 billion topped $90.69 billion. Azure revenue jumped 48% to $33.17 billion, the first time Microsoft has given it in dollars. [5][6]
Bottom line: Same AI boom, two very different report cards.
Burger Bid
Chart: AP's Morning Brief. Data: Yahoo Finance. [3]
What happened? Wendy's (WEN +15.15%) jumped after a Trian-led group offered $7.35 a share in cash to buy the chain, about $1.4 billion and a 20% premium to Tuesday's close. [7][3]
Elsewhere: F5 (FFIV −20.43%) sank [3] even as quarterly revenue rose 13%, after it guided for 8% to 9% revenue growth in fiscal 2027. [8]
Brief Break
One meeting, no vote. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said that starting in 2027, one of the FOMC's eight meetings will focus only on broad monetary policy, with no rate vote and no statement. [20]
Global
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| STOXX Europe 600 | 644.14 | +0.07% |
| FTSE 100 | 10,694.50 | +0.07% |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,681.47 | +0.91% |
As of Wed Oct 28 close · Sources: Reuters (STOXX 600), Yahoo Finance (FTSE 100), Xinhua (Shanghai) [9] [3] [10]
Mixed Results
What happened? European shares barely moved as disappointing earnings and higher oil weighed. Thyssenkrupp fell 17% and Adyen dropped over 13%, while Stellantis added over 15% and Deutsche Bank gained about 4%. [9]
What's next? The ECB announces its decision at 9:15am ET today, with the press conference at 9:45am ET. [17] It's widely expected to hold its deposit rate at 2.5%. [18]
Meanwhile in China: The Shenzhen Component jumped 2.02% and the ChiNext added 3.4%. [10]
Levels sheet
Know your levels before the bell. Our free levels sheet lays out the key index levels on the chart each week, in one page. Grab it at apsmorningbrief.com/levels
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Economy
| Series | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. 10-yr yield | 5.044% | +0.052 pp |
| Gold (Comex front month) | $4,036.00 | −0.56% |
| WTI crude | $102.78 | +2.9% |
As of Wed Oct 28 close/settle · Sources: MarketWatch (10-yr), Morningstar/Dow Jones (gold), CNBC (WTI) [11] [12] [13]
Clarification: the 10-year yield edged up 0.004 pp to 4.992% on Oct 27 (WSJ); we listed it as unchanged. [21]
Hold the Line
What happened? The Fed kept its target range at 3.75% to 4%. The vote was 10–2: Lisa Cook and Beth Hammack wanted a quarter-point hike. "Inflation remains elevated," the statement said. [14]
Why it matters: Markets now price an 85.0% chance of a December hike, up from 78.3% on Tuesday, per CME FedWatch. [2] The 10-year yield posted its biggest gain since Sept. 28, while the 2-year slipped 0.004 pp to 4.731%. [11]
Loonie Lift
What happened? The Bank of Canada raised its policy rate 25 basis points to 2.5% and said "there could be a need to increase the policy rate further." [15]
Data Dump
What's the focus? The advance estimate of third-quarter GDP and September's PCE inflation and spending report both land at 8:30am ET. [16]
Crude Awakening
Why? WTI gained 2.9% and Brent rose 1.3% to $115.32 after a report that the U.S. told Gulf countries to prepare for a short military campaign against Iran after the midterms. Houthi militants also said they hit Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura refinery. [13]
Crypto
| Asset | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | $81,267.59 | +0.57% |
| Ether | $2,357.62 | +0.42% |
As of Wed Oct 28 daily close (end of the UTC day, 8:00pm ET) · Source: Yahoo Finance [3]
Fed-Proof Coin
What's the focus? Bitcoin rose to $81,100 after Warsh's remarks. [20] Coinbase reports its third-quarter results today. [20]
Guess That Stock: Answer
It's Amazon (AMZN). The stock closed at $254.60 on Wednesday, down about 3% from $263.04 six months earlier. It hit a low close of $226.65 on July 29 and a high of $284.02 on Aug. 3. [3] Fun fact: Amazon's third-quarter call starts at 5:00pm ET today. [19] AMZN quote page
That's your edge for Thursday. See you tomorrow at 8:30am ET.
Sources
- CNBC, stock market live updates for Wednesday’s session (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/27/stock-market-today-live-updates.html
- Reuters via StreetInsider, Wall Street close and Fed reaction (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.streetinsider.com/Market+Check/Wall+Street+ends+higher+as+Fed+holds+key+rate+steady%2C+focus+turns+to+earnings/27243636.html
- Yahoo Finance chart data (^GSPTSE, ^FTSE, WEN, FFIV, BTC-USD, ETH-USD, AMZN), fetched Oct 29, 2026 ~6:05am ET: https://finance.yahoo.com/
- CNBC, Alphabet Q3 2026 earnings report (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/28/alphabet-googl-earnings-q3-2026.html
- CNBC, Microsoft fiscal Q1 2027 earnings report (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/28/microsoft-msft-q1-earnings-report-2027.html
- Microsoft Investor Relations, FY27 Q1 press release and webcast (FY27 Q1, Oct 28, 2026): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2027-Q1/press-release-webcast
- CNBC, Trian-led offer for Wendy’s (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/28/nelson-peltz-trian-wendys-1point4-billion.html
- F5, fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results press release (Oct 27, 2026): https://www.f5.com/company/news/press-releases/earnings-q4-fy26
- Reuters via Euronext, "Europe's STOXX 600 subdued as earnings and oil prices weigh" (Oct 28, 2026): https://live.euronext.com/en/financial-news/europes-stoxx-600-subdued-earnings-and-oil-prices-weigh
- Xinhua, China stock market close (Oct 28, 2026): https://english.news.cn/20261028/6fbb9fb5656a4edeb47edc7e06e26e91/c.html
- MarketWatch, "U.S. Stocks Up, Treasury Yields Mixed After Fed Hold" (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-stocks-up-treasury-yields-mixed-after-fed-hold-dbd6e218
- Morningstar / Dow Jones Data Talk, "Comex Gold Settles 0.56% Lower at $4036.00" (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/2026102810490/comex-gold-settles-056-lower-at-403600-data-talk
- CNBC, oil prices and Iran report (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/28/oil-price-today-wti-brent-hormuz.html
- Federal Reserve Board, "Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement" (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20261028a.htm
- Bank of Canada, interest rate announcement press release (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2026/10/fad-press-release-2026-10-28/
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Release Schedule (GDP advance Q3 2026 and Personal Income and Outlays Sept 2026, Oct 29, 8:30 AM ET): https://www.bea.gov/news/schedule
- European Central Bank, Weekly schedule (decision 14:15 CET = 9:15am ET; press conference 14:45 CET = 9:45am ET, Oct 29, 2026): https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/calendars/weekly/html/index.en.html
- RTÉ News (Reuters), ECB meeting preview (Oct 29, 2026): https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2026/1029/1597176-european-central-bank-rates-meeting/
- Amazon Investor Relations, Q3 2026 conference call webcast notice (call Oct 29, 2026, 5:00pm ET): https://ir.aboutamazon.com/news-release/news-release-details/2026/Amazon-com-to-Webcast-Third-Quarter-2026-Financial-Results-Conference-Call/
- CoinDesk, live updates on bitcoin and the Fed decision (Oct 28, 2026): https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/28/live-updates-bitcoin-climbs-above-usd81-000-as-majors-rally-ahead-of-fed-decision
- WSJ, "Treasury Yields Rise Slightly Ahead of Expected Fed Hold" (Oct 27, 2026, 10-yr 4.992%, +0.004 pp): https://www.wsj.com/finance/jgb-yields-higher-as-ai-bubble-concerns-ease-e2e84cbb
