Alphabet set for its biggest post-earnings drop ever

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Before The Bell

Change over the last 24 hours · as of Oct 29, 2026, 7:08 AM ET

Alphabet set for its biggest post-earnings drop ever LINK

• Alphabet sank 10% in premarket trading today, putting it on course for its worst-ever reaction to earnings since going public in 2004, a close down more than 9.77% would set that record.
• The drop followed a cash burn: Alphabet reported negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion for the third quarter, more than three times the shortfall analysts expected, even as it stuck to its full-year capital spending guidance.
• Microsoft rose nearly 4% on what one analyst called a more "measured" build-out, with capital spending coming in below forecasts, a split that shows investors rewarding restraint as they scrutinize returns on AI spending.

Fed holds rates steady despite two dissents LINK

• The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged today, with two officials dissenting in favor of a quarter-point hike as policymakers wait for more data on whether inflation requires further tightening.
• The dissenters were Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack and Governor Lisa Cook, whose first-ever dissent reinforced investor bets on a December rate increase, with the Iran war continuing to push energy costs higher even as other indicators improve.
• Chair Kevin Warsh insisted "politics played no role" despite White House pressure to hold before next week's midterms, and said higher rates are already cooling the AI boom as investors pull back from tech borrowers.

Microsoft beats estimates on Azure AI growth LINK

• Microsoft shares jumped more than 5% yesterday afternoon after its Azure cloud business grew 48% in the September quarter, driving revenue and profit past Wall Street forecasts.
• Total revenue hit $92.3 billion and profit topped $36.6 billion, both running ahead of analyst expectations, with AI demand powering the cloud unit.
• The results land as Microsoft spends heavily on AI, nearly doubling its property and equipment outlays to $39 billion year-on-year, while rival Google's cloud revenue doubled to $30.7 billion, narrowing the gap with Azure.

DOJ questions Nvidia over $12.9B Hugging Face deal LINK

• The Justice Department is scrutinizing Nvidia's roughly $13 billion purchase of Hugging Face, the open-source platform for AI models, probing whether the deal could disadvantage rival developers in the field.
• Announced in September, the acquisition brings Nvidia a platform used by more than 18 million people and over 200,000 companies, and one that also sells tools to chipmakers and others building closed, proprietary AI.
• It is Nvidia's second-biggest deal after its $20 billion purchase of Groq assets late last year, which has also drawn DOJ scrutiny; the closest comparison is Microsoft's $7.5 billion GitHub buy in 2018.

Coinbase lists Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin LINK

• Coinbase has added Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin across its Prime, Exchange and retail platforms, giving both retail and institutional clients a new way to hold and trade the dollar-pegged token.
• Customers can swap U.S. dollars and other supported dollar-backed stablecoins into RLUSD at a one-to-one rate, with deposits and withdrawals running on the XRP Ledger, Ethereum and Coinbase's Base network.
• The listing caps a busy stretch for Ripple: RLUSD, launched in December 2024, has passed $2.6 billion in market value and just won Moody's A2 long-term deposit rating, with support for using it as trading collateral expected to follow.

Macro News

• Oil prices fell as renewed US-Iran peace efforts eased supply fears. LINK
• EU ministers meet over soaring fuel prices amid tight winter supplies. LINK
• New Zealand's dollar slumped after its central bank held rates, defying hike bets. LINK
• Healey's first budget cut energy bills, raised bank taxes and boosted defense. LINK
• Utah filed a 14-count criminal case against Kalshi executives over sports bets. LINK
• CFTC chief says autonomous AI trading agents pose unresolved regulatory questions. LINK
• Bank of England consults on tokenized collateral rules for clearing houses. LINK
• EPA estimates methane rollback would cut 2027 crude prices just 11 cents. LINK
• Lagarde told officials she will leave the ECB presidency February 7, 2027. LINK

Corporate News

• SK Hynix shares surged after earnings beat, lifting memory-chip stocks. LINK
• Google expands AI Search ads internationally as it seeks new revenue. LINK
• Oracle rallied after financial targets reassured investors about AI data-center spending. LINK
• Samsung's profit met forecasts as AI demand boosted advanced-memory sales. LINK
• ServiceNow fell after fourth-quarter revenue guidance missed Wall Street expectations. LINK
• GE Vernova will buy grid-equipment maker Trench Group for $9 billion. LINK
• Shell profit nearly doubled, beating estimates as crude and refining margins rose. LINK
• Wealthsimple raised C$425 million, reaching a C$13.8 billion valuation. LINK
• FTC orders nine companies to explain data-driven customer pricing and gig-worker pay. LINK
• DTCC launched its tokenization service with 20 clients, meeting its October target. LINK

Stocks

▲ Biggest winners

Oracle rose 11% after setting fiscal 2030 revenue guidance of $225 billion. LINK

▼ Biggest losers

LPL Financial Holdings fell 15% after LPL cut Commonwealth asset retention guidance to 83%. LINK

CoStar Group fell 14% after annualized net new bookings plunged to $37 million from $84 million. LINK

Research & Reports

• AI services may generate $200 billion in new work by 2030. LINK
• AI-related employment weakness is spreading beyond tech, Goldman economist says. LINK
• Russian crude exports remain near prewar levels despite sanctions and attacks. LINK
• Bitwise raised bitcoin's 10-year target to $1.6 million, forecasting strong gains. LINK
• Crypto ownership rose, but recent usage stayed flat as former users exited. LINK
• Anthropic experiment found AI agents can subtly sway human overseers' decisions. LINK

Market Calendar

Earnings  ·  Economic events