Market Pulse - Wednesday, Oct. 28

Oil and geopolitics set the tone

Brent is up 1.5% at $111, and WTI is up 1.6% at $101.5. Reports say Washington has asked Gulf states to prepare for a possible new campaign against Iran after the US midterms, and the Israeli election is too close to call. Costly energy keeps inflation and rate-hike talk in focus.

Fed day

The decision is due at 2:00 pm ET, with Chair Warsh’s press conference to follow. A hold is widely expected after September’s hike. Traders will look for signals on December. The 10-year US yield is back above 5% (5.02%), and the dollar index is at 102.4. The RBNZ surprised by holding at 2.75%. 🇳🇿

Asian markets

Kospi: +6.6% to 6,008, led by chips, with SK Hynix and Samsung surging

Taiex: +2.1% to 47,060

Nikkei 225: +1.25% to 64,062

Shanghai Composite: +0.6% to 3,670

Hang Seng: +0.1% to 23,060

ASX 200: flat at 8,847

Wall Street (Tuesday)

S&P 500 +0.6% to 7,723, Nasdaq +1.2%, Dow flat. AI stocks led the rebound, with Broadcom and CoreWeave higher. Boeing dropped about 11% on a bigger-than-expected loss.

Currencies, metals and crypto

EUR/USD: 1.1119

USD/JPY: 157.87

Gold: $4,030 (–0.7%)

Silver: $53.84 (–1.1%)

Bitcoin: ~$80,800

Ethereum: ~$2,350

Coming up

Today: Fed decision, 2:00 pm ET

Thursday: ECB decision, US Q3 GDP and September PCE

Friday: Bank of Japan decision