S&P 500, Nasdaq Futures Dip As Weaker-Than-Expected Alphabet Earnings Reignite AI Spending Worries — GOOGL, MSFT, ORCL, NVDA, MRVL In Focus

• The S&P 500 ended Wednesday 0.3% higher, the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2%.

• The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted 10–2 to maintain interest rates at 3.75%–4%.

• Alphabet missed Q3 earnings expectations, while Microsoft surpassed.

U.S. stock indices ended higher on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged helped cool some inflation worries, while weak earnings from Alphabet led the Nasdaq 100 to drop after-hours.

The S&P 500 ended Wednesday 0.3% higher, the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2%. The Russell 2000, which tracks small-cap stocks, added 0.4%.

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Meanwhile, Nasdaq-100 futures lost 1.2%. S&P 500 futures declined 0.5%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 17 points, or 0.03% at the time of writing.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) gained 0.6%, and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) rose 0.2%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ended 0.5% higher on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) and the iShares Semiconductor ETF jumped about 2% each on Wednesday as gains in AMD, Micron Tech (MU) and Broadcom (AVGO). The broader Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) rose 0.6%.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for SPY improved to ‘neutral’ from ‘bearish’, while it remained in ‘bearish’ territory for DIA and QQQ.

US Market Drivers

The Federal Reserve opted to keep its target interest rate steady on Wednesday, but financial markets focused on Chair Kevin Warsh’s announcement of a structural shift in the frequency of future interest rate decisions.

The central bank held interest rates steady at 3.75% to 4% amid elevated inflation and a strong job market. The Federal Open Market Committee approved the following statement for release by a 10–2 vote.

Under Warsh’s revamped framework, the FOMC will issue rate decisions at seven of its eight scheduled sessions in 2027, reserving one meeting exclusively for broad monetary policy strategy without issuing a formal rate statement. By 2028, the central bank plans to reduce its rate-setting votes to six per year, leaving two gatherings devoted entirely to strategic evaluations.

“The Fed appears comfortable being patient for now as financial conditions have evolved broadly in line with expectations,” Luis Alvarado at Wells Fargo Investment Institute told Bloomberg. “But patience should not be confused with complacency.”