Wall Street Closes Higher as Chips Lead Nasdaq Up 1.18 Percent

Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, with chip stocks leading a tech rally on the first day of the Federal Reserve's two day meeting. The Nasdaq Composite gained 308.43 points, or 1.18 percent, to close at 26,477.81. The S&P 500 rose 45.82 points, or 0.60 percent, to finish at 7,722.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 15.99 points, or 0.03 percent, to end at 52,377.57. The Russell 2000 rose 1.16 percent to 2,818.87, and the VIX volatility index fell 4.73 percent to 17.52.

Chips carry the session

Semiconductor stocks did the heavy lifting. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained more than 3 percent, and chip names including Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom were among the leaders. CoreWeave gained nearly 8 percent. Technology was the strongest of the main sectors, rising about 1.7 percent on the day, while six of the eleven S&P 500 sectors still finished lower. The gap between the cap weighted and equal weight indexes showed how narrow the leadership was, with the largest companies carrying most of the headline gain.

Boeing holds back the Dow

Boeing fell nearly 11 percent after reporting a quarterly loss, and that single stock kept the Dow close to flat while the other indexes climbed. Orbit Post reported earlier on Tuesday that Boeing posted a third quarter loss of 34 cents a share against a record backlog of 745 billion dollars. Coca-Cola fell 1.64 percent despite raising its full year guidance. Energy shares lost about 2 percent as West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.48 percent to 100.25 dollars a barrel. Gold rose 0.87 percent to 4,073.40 dollars an ounce.

Data and the Fed decision ahead

The economic data that landed before the close pointed to a steady consumer. Consumer confidence jumped to 91.7 in October, beating forecasts, in figures Orbit Post reported earlier on Tuesday. September durable goods orders rose 1.8 percent, and new home sales ran at a yearly pace of 676,000. The Federal Reserve began its two day policy meeting on Tuesday. The decision is due on Wednesday, October 28, at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Financial markets were pricing about a 7 percent chance of a rate rise this week, according to the CME FedWatch tool cited by Investopedia, which means a hold at the current range is the strong expectation. Economists expect the Fed to raise rates at a later meeting rather than move twice in a row after the September rise.

Earnings still to come

Visa and Seagate reported after Tuesday's closing bell, in results covered separately by Orbit Post. Alphabet and Microsoft report after the close on Wednesday, October 28, and Amazon follows on Thursday. The Fed decision and the biggest tech earnings of the season land within about 24 hours of each other, which gives the rally a hard test on Wednesday.