WTI Crude Oil Rises Above $108 for Third Consecutive Day
Energy was once again the best-performing sector on Wednesday amid the ongoing Middle East tensions, with reports that President Trump is planning to maintain the naval blockade on Iran boosting WTI crude oil for the third consecutive day above $108 per barrel. Geopolitically driven risk-off bias was compounded by a Fed decision that featured multiple FOMC members dissenting with a majority not to include an easing bias in the statement, sending Treasuries sharply lower. The 10-year note yield jumped above 4.4% and the 30-year yield briefly touched 5% for the first time in months. Following the decision, Fed funds futures are once again pricing in a slight possibility of a rate hike by the end of 2026 at over 10%, and the slight possibility of a 25 basis point easing before year-end priced in pre-decision has now been erased.For the second day in a row however, earnings from the tech sector are helping to restore more constructive sentiment. Four Mag-7 companies reported results afterhours; Alphabet is the best performer with a 7% after-hours jump in stock price to record highs above $370 per share despite raising its FY26 CapEx view to $180B-$190B from $175B-$185B. Amazon's post-earnings price action saw a slight decline, but the stock flipped back into positive territory as CEO Jassy expressed confidence in the ROI of the company's accelerated CapEx and also touted the rapid growth of the company's chips business. Microsoft shares initially jumped to $445 on Q3 earnings beat but paired those gains to trade little changed as the company's Q4 revenue outlook midpoint came in shy of consensus. Meta fared the worst out of the mega-caps, falling over 6% with investors remaining skeptical that the company's investments may not pay off given that its AI initiatives are relatively earlier-stage. Outside the Mag-7, quarterly results from semiconductors remain impressive as Qualcommbeat estimates, with a surge of afterhours buying also driven by comments that the company would begin shipping data center chips to a large hyperscaler within a year.Check out this evening's top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.HIGHER AFTER EARNINGS -Viavi Solutionsup 22.7%Impinjup 16.6%TTM Technologiesup 16.6%Qualcommup 13.3%FormFactorup 12.9%PROCEPT BioRoboticsup 12.4%Carvanaup 8.7%FMC Corporationup 7.4%Alphabetup 6.5%O'Reilly Automotiveup 4.2%Chipotleup 3.9%Amazonup 3.1%Cheesecake Factoryup 2.4%DOWN AFTER EARNINGS -Teladocdown 10.9%KLA Corp.down 7.6%Acadia Healthcaredown 6.6%Metadown 6.5%Waystardown 6.1%Equinixdown 5.7%Tenable Holdingsdown 5.7%Forddown 1.4%Matteldown 0.5%Microsoftdown 0.1%
