Chip Rally Lifts Nasdaq as Boeing Drags the Dow; Visa and Seagate Up Next

It's Tuesday, October twenty-seventh. This is Trade and Ticker, the lunch report. Here's your midday check on U.S. stocks.

Three things still matter into the afternoon. First, chip stocks are rallying for a third straight day. Second, Boeing is sliding after its earnings. Third, Visa, Seagate, and Robinhood report after the close.

Here's the picture at midday. Tech is carrying the market again, but the Dow is stuck. Just before one o'clock Eastern, the Nasdaq is up a little more than one percent, and the S-and-P is up about half a percent. The Russell two thousand is up about one percent. The Dow is about flat, weighed down by Boeing. The gains are narrow, though. More stocks in the S-and-P are falling than rising.

Technology is the best group, up about one and two-thirds percent, with retailers and other consumer names up almost one percent. Energy is the worst, down about two percent, as oil slides. Real estate and consumer staples are each down about one percent.

Now the chip rally. The Philadelphia chip index is up about three percent. Broadcom is up about four percent after Bank of America, Blackstone, Citi, and Morgan Stanley lined up sixty-three billion dollars to finance Broadcom's A-I chips for Anthropic. A-M-D is up about five percent after expanding its partnership with Meta, including a one billion dollar investment in Meta's stock sale. Micron and Intel are each up more than three percent, and Nvidia is up almost one. Storage names are strong ahead of Seagate's report tonight. Western Digital is up about seven percent, and Seagate is up almost five. A-I cloud names CoreWeave and Iren are each up about seven percent.

Among the biggest stocks, Tesla is up almost four percent, at its highest level in more than three months. Amazon is up about two percent, and Alphabet more than one. Microsoft is about flat. Meta is down about one percent, trading just below the six hundred twenty-five dollar price of its new stock sale.

Now Boeing. The stock is down about nine percent, at its lowest level since April of last year, and it's the main reason the Dow is lagging. Boeing lost thirty-four cents a share on an adjusted basis, worse than expected. On the call, C-E-O Kelly Ortberg said it will take longer to speed up production of the seven thirty-seven, because Boeing can't build wings fast enough. Investors also didn't like a cash flow outlook that came in below Wall Street's hopes.

Other morning reports are mostly getting rewarded. U-P-S is up about four percent after raising its forecast. Royal Caribbean is up about eight percent, Celestica about twelve, and JetBlue about eighteen. SoFi is up about fifteen percent after its quarterly results. Coca-Cola has slipped about one percent, even after raising its outlook. And PayPal has turned higher, up more than one and a half percent.

Last night's reports are moving too. Cadence Design Systems is up almost eight percent after beating estimates and raising its full-year forecast. Nucor is up more than five percent. Welltower is down more than five.

On the economy, consumer confidence bounced back in October. The Conference Board's index rose to ninety-one-point-seven, from eighty-four-point-two in September, well above the eighty-one economists expected. Easing gas prices helped. Oil is lower again, with U.S. crude down about one and a half percent, to around one hundred dollars a barrel. The ten-year Treasury yield is right around five percent. The Fed is meeting today, with its decision tomorrow afternoon.

After the close today, Visa is the biggest report. It's a read on how much Americans are spending with gas prices this high. The stock is down about one percent going in. Seagate's results will test the A-I storage trade, after a big run for storage stocks today. And Robinhood, up almost four percent, reports too. Then Microsoft and Alphabet report tomorrow after the Fed decision.

Watch three things into the close. First, whether the chip rally can hold all afternoon. Second, whether Boeing finds a floor, so the Dow can join the move higher. Third, whether oil keeps falling ahead of the Fed.

That's the midday picture. We'll be back this evening with a company deep dive on the day's biggest stories. Thanks for listening. I'm Trade and Ticker.