Top News Today: Stocks Rise, Treasury Yields Mixed After Fed Hold

MARKET WRAPS

STOCKS: Stocks rose after the Federal Reserve held rates steady.

TREASURYS: Treasury yields were mixed after the Fed's decision, with a loss for the policy-sensitive two-year yield and gains for long-term yields.

FOREX: The U.S. dollar ticked down against rivals but remained near multiyear highs after the Fed decision.

COMMODITIES: Oil futures rose on market concerns about possible U.S. military escalation against Iran after next week's midterm elections and renewed threats to Middle East energy supplies from Yemen's Houthi militants.

HEADLINES

Fed Holds Rates Steady but Two Officials Sought Another Increase

WASHINGTON-The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady Wednesday

after last month's increase, buying time to decide whether more rate

hikes are needed to keep energy costs and an artificial-intelligence

building boom from seeping into broader inflation.

The decision, which maintained the Fed's benchmark rate in a range

between 3.75% and 4%, was approved on a 10-2 vote. Fed governor Lisa Cook

and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack dissented in favor of a

quarter-point increase.

The committee's policy statement nodded subtly toward another

increase.

Vance Reaches Out to Iranian Hard-Liner in Bid to Restart Peace Talks

Vice President JD Vance is engaging one of Iran's most powerful

hard-liners to revive peace negotiations even as President Trump

threatens to restart the war after next week's midterm elections, U.S.

officials and people familiar with the matter said.

Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's top

security body, the Supreme National Security Council, and previously

Iran's longest-serving commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard

Corps, according to the people.

The letter was sent at Trump's direction, one person said, and Trump

is aware of the outreach. Vance is testing whether Tehran and Washington

could find enough common ground to persuade Trump not to give a final

order for a short, intense attack on Iran in the coming weeks.

Google Shares Fall as Ad Revenue Misses Estimates

Google's advertising revenues fell short of analyst expectations,

sending shares falling as much as 7% in after-hours trading.

Google's parent company, Alphabet, reported 25% revenue growth in the

third quarter, driven by increasing growth in its cloud division.

Alphabet posted $127.6 billion in sales, narrowly missing analyst

expectations. Its cloud business exceeded analyst expectations at $30.7

billion, but its services business made $96.3 billion, below analyst

expectations of $98.5 billion.

Google's business has boomed from advancements in AI all year, even as

it has struggled to catch up in the AI model development race.

Microsoft Quarterly Profit Soars as Cloud Growth Accelerates

Microsoft's cloud business continued to post accelerating growth in

the company's most recent quarter, contributing to a higher profit and

easing jitters over potential returns from the artificial-intelligence

infrastructure build-out.

The 48% growth in the Azure cloud business propelled Microsoft's

revenue to $92.28 billion, up 19%, for its fiscal first quarter. The

result handily beat Wall Street's expectations for $90.62 billion in

revenue, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

The new Agent and Infra segment, which includes revenue from Azure and

Microsoft 365 products among other sources, contributed $76.8 billion in

revenue to that total. Microsoft revamped its reporting segments in

September.

Bank of Canada Raises Policy Rate to 2.50% on Higher Inflation Outlook

OTTAWA-The Bank of Canada on Wednesday raised its main interest rate

by a quarter point to 2.50% on the expectation that inflation will remain

significantly above its 2% target until 2028.

Gov. Tiff Macklem said "there could be" more rate increases, although

cautioned that officials must proceed cautiously due to heightened

uncertainty. Economists diverged on what this entailed, with some arguing

this marked the start of a rate-increasing cycle, while others reckon the

Bank of Canada might have only one or two more increases left given some

underlying economic softness.

"An increase in the policy rate is needed to reduce the risk that

elevated energy prices could spill over and become generalized

inflation," Macklem said at a press conference. "We are mindful that

uncertainty is still elevated" due to the U.S.-Canada trade row and the

conflict in the Middle East.

Ford Says Weak Vehicle Sales Drive Down Profit, Revenue

Ford Motor reported lower profit and revenue in the third quarter,

pressured by persistent losses in its electric-vehicle unit and softer

sales across its gas and hybrid models.

The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker on Wednesday reported a profit of

$2.05 billion, or 50 cents a share, compared with a profit of $2.45

billion, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted earnings came in at 49

cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting 41 cents a

share.

T-Mobile Profit, Revenue Rise on Postpaid Growth

T-Mobile US's third-quarter profit rose as the company continued to

add postpaid subscribers and earn more revenue from those customers.

The cell carrier's results topped Wall Street's expectations on profit

and revenue, as well postpaid net account additions, a key metric that

tracks its offerings where service is paid for each month on a contract.

Despite the beat, T-Mobile said it now expects full-year postpaid net

account additions at the midpoint of its prior guidance range. The

company also narrowed its profit forecast for the year.

Nelson Peltz's Trian Offers to Buy Wendy's for $1.4 Billion

Nelson Peltz's hedge fund Trian Fund Management offered to buy Wendy's

for around $1.4 billion Wednesday, arguing that the struggling fast-food

chain is "at a critical juncture" and would be better off as a private

company.

Trian, a longtime shareholder in Wendy's, is leading a group that has

offered to pay $7.35 a share in cash for Wendy's, a 20% premium to the

prior close. Details of the offer were disclosed in a Wednesday filing,

confirming an earlier report by The Wall Street Journal.

The restaurant operator Flynn Group and the investment firms BlueFive

Capital and Sixth Street Partners are working with Trian.

The Firm That Pioneered Bankruptcy Law Is Winding Down Itself

For half a century, when America's largest corporations faced

financial duress, their first call often went to one firm: Weil Gotshal &

Manges.

Weil invented much of the modern corporate bankruptcy practice under

legendary lawyer Harvey Miller, who built out the firm's restructuring

group that steered clients including Lehman Brothers, General Motors,

American Airlines and Texaco through bankruptcy in four decades before

his death in 2015. But in recent years, its leading position in the

business of bankruptcy has been overtaken by larger competitors and an

industrywide shift toward restructurings driven by private-equity-owned

companies.

Now Weil's leaders plan to dissolve the firm itself following a wave

of partner defections this year, The Wall Street Journal reported

Wednesday. Weil's collapse will leave the restructuring arena with one

fewer major player, meaning the lucrative work of fixing the balance

sheets of large corporate borrowers, long the province of only a few

elite firms, could further consolidate.

Dropbox to Cut About 6% of Global Workforce

Dropbox is cutting jobs globally in a move it says will align its

workforce with investments and its top product and growth priorities.

The global workforce at the file-storage company will be reduced by

about 6%, which Dropbox said will result in total cash expenditure of

between $27 million to $33 million to cover severance payments, employee

benefits and other costs.

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October 28, 2026 16:40 ET (20:40 GMT)