Top News Today: Stocks Slide After Fed Pause, Oil Spike

MARKET WRAPS

STOCKS: Stocks tumbled after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and the war in Iran escalated.

TREASURYS: Treasury yields finished mixed in the wake of the Fed policy decision, with a loss for the two-year Treasury yield and a gain for the 10-year yield.

FOREX: The U.S. dollar fell against rivals after the Fed policy decision.

COMMODITIES: Oil futures rose sharply after Iran fired missiles on U.S. troops in Jordan.

HEADLINES

Fed Holds Rates Steady but Three Officials Vote for Increase

WASHINGTON-Federal Reserve officials held interest rates steady Wednesday over the objections of three bank presidents who wanted an increase, underscoring how pressure is building inside the central bank to act on inflation that has run above its target for five years.

The Fed held its benchmark rate steady, in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, in a 9-3 vote. The rate-setting panel issued the same policy statement as it did in June, when it also held rates steady. The decision left Chairman Kevin Warsh's vow to end the run of above-target inflation to rest for a second straight meeting on words rather than action.

Meta Hits Record Sales, but Stock Slides on AI Costs

Meta Platforms reported record revenue for the second quarter, but an update on the company's AI spending plans raised concerns from investors about the cost of its infrastructure buildout.

The company slightly revised its projected capital spending, saying its minimum for the year would be $130 billion rather than the previously announced $125 billion, while the top end of its forecast remained unchanged at $145 billion. Its sales came in at $60.8 billion, for 28% year-over-year revenue growth, and net income was $15.8 billion for the April-to-June period, lower than analysts had expected.

Its stock was down more than 5% in after-hours trading.

Microsoft Beats Wall Street Expectations, With 31% Jump in Profits

Microsoft reported robust cloud growth and a boost in the number of paid AI subscribers, as investors remain fixated on whether the tech giant's data-center spending will pay off.

Microsoft's revenue grew 18% to $90 billion in the quarter ended in June. Net income increased 31% to $35.8 billion. The result beat Wall Street's expectations, according to an average of dozens of analysts polled by FactSet.

"Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time, and Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats, reflecting the confidence customers are placing in us to power their AI transformation, " Chief Executive Satya Nadella said in a statement.

Robinhood Beats Expectations on Surging Revenue

Robinhood Markets reported a double digit gain in revenue for the second quarter and beat expectations for profit.

Shares of the mobile trading platform rose 1.8% in after hours trading after closing down 3% in the regular session.

The company reported second quarter earnings of 62 cents a share and revenue of $1.3 billion, up 32.5% from a year earlier. Wall Street had expected earnings of 43 cents a share and revenue of $1.29 billion.

This is breaking news. Check back here for more details.

Starbucks Stock Jumps After Earnings Beat and Strong Outlook

Starbucks shares jumped nearly 8% in after-hours trading after the company reported third quarter earnings and revenue that beat expectations and a strong outlook that suggests its turnaround is underway.

The stock rose 7.7% after hours, to $111.99, after closing the regular session up 1% to $104.14.

Wall Street expected the coffee chain to report earnings of 66 cents a share and revenue of $9.17 billion.

Procter Gamble Gives Soft Outlook as Iran War Drives Up Costs

Procter Gamble gave a soft outlook for its new fiscal year, as it expects to take a $1 billion hit from higher costs related to the Iran war.

The maker of Crest toothpaste and Pantene shampoo also logged a lower profit in its latest quarter, as higher costs and sluggish sales weighed on its bottom line. Like many consumer-facing companies, PG is navigating a combination of price-sensitive shoppers and higher costs for fuel and other supplies.

"As we enter fiscal '27, we continue to expect the environment around us to remain volatile and challenging," Chief Financial Officer Andre Schulten told analysts Wednesday.

GE HealthCare Says Increased Orders, Healthy Demand Lifted Revenue

GE HealthCare said healthy demand during the latest quarter drove an increase in orders, which in turn provided a boost to sales and profitability.

The medical-technology company said Wednesday that total orders were up 11% during the second quarter, outpacing its expectation for mid-single-digit growth. Chief Executive Peter Arduini attributed the increase to strong commercial execution and the adoption of new products

"We saw orders growth across all of our segments, with particular strength in several of our longer cycle products in radiology," he said on a call with analysts.

Brookfield, NextEra to Develop $100 Billion Data Center Campus in Kentucky

Brookfield Asset Management and power company NextEra Energy are teaming to build a $100 billion AI data center on the site of a Cold War-era uranium-enrichment plant.

A partnership of energy, infrastructure and utility companies plan to develop a data center campus on the Energy Department's Paducah site in western Kentucky, repurposing the land as part of a privately-funded project that aims to create a center for innovation and energy generation.

When fully constructed in 2032, the campus plans to support up to 1.8 gigawatts of utility capacity and more than 1.2 gigawatts of compute capacity, which the companies aid will be backed by up to 4.6 gigawatts of dedicated generation resources that will be paid for and built specifically for the project.

Boston Scientific Cuts View on Unexpected Watchman Heart Implant Challenges

Boston Scientific cut its full-year outlook after two of its core heart-disease products faced unexpected challenges in the second quarter.

Revenue from the Watchman heart implant, which is used to reduce the risk of stroke, slowed sharply and unexpectedly, the medical-device maker said Wednesday. Its electrophysiology business, which focuses on treating heart-rhythm disorders, is also struggling to keep up with fiercer competition.

As a result, Boston Scientific lowered its full-year sales guidance to 5.5% to 6.5% growth, down from 7% to 8.5% previously. It also cut its adjusted earnings-per-share guidance to a range of $3.28 to $3.32, from the prior $3.34 to $3.41.

TALKING POINT U.S. Annuity Sales Hit a Record $124 Billion in the Second Quarter

U.S. annuity sales have consistently topped $100 billion per quarter for nearly three years, and the records continue to fall. In the second quarter of 2026, the trade group Limra reported annuity sales of $123.9 billion, the most ever recorded. Sales also set a first-half record of $231.3 billion.

The second-quarter mark, which was the 11th consecutive period that annuity sales topped $100 billion, represented a 4% year-over-year increase. Limra says that its tally captures only 84% of the U.S. annuity market, so the figures are an undercount.

Limra says that many investors are moving to annuities as a principal-protection strategy amid record-high equity markets and an array of other factors. "A combination of global tensions, market volatility, and rising interest rates drove demand that lifted all major products and pushed the total market to a new high," says Bryan Hodgens, senior vice president and head of Limra research.

By category, one of the biggest gainers was registered index-linked annuities, which offer returns correlated to movements of a stock index. RILA sales reached a record $23.3 billion in the second quarter, an increase of 11% from the first quarter and 22% higher than the same period a year earlier.

The category has benefited from broader distribution and continued increases in equity values, according to Keith Golembiewski, assistant vice president and head of Limra annuity research. "With equity markets reaching new highs in June, investors were drawn to RILA's blend of upside participation and downside protection," he says.

Fixed-rate deferred annuities had the largest volume of any product class, with sales reaching $44.7 billion in the second quarter, up 26% from the first period but down 2% from the year-earlier quarter.

--Kenneth Corbin, Barron's

Expected Major Events for Thursday

00:30/JPN: Jun Detailed Import Export Statistics

05:00/JPN: Jul Consumer Confidence Survey

05:30/FRA: Jun Household consumption expenditure in manufactured goods

05:30/FRA: 2Q GDP - first estimate

08:00/GER: 2Q GDP - 1st release

08:00/ITA: 2Q GDP preliminary estimate

08:00/GER: Jul Bavaria CPI

08:00/GER: Jul North Rhine Westphalia CPI

08:00/GER: Jul Saxony CPI

08:00/GER: Jul Hesse CPI

08:00/GER: Jul Baden-Wuerttemberg CPI

08:00/GER: Jul Brandenburg CPI

09:00/ITA: Jun Unemployment

10:00/ITA: Jun PPI

11:00/UK: Bank of England Monetary Policy Report

11:00/UK: UK interest rate decision

12:00/GER: Jul Provisional CPI

12:30/US: 2Q Advance estimate GDP

12:30/CAN: May Payroll employment, earnings and hours, and job vacancies

12:30/US: Jun Personal Income and Outlays

12:30/US: 07/25 Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - Initial Claims

12:30/US: U.S. Weekly Export Sales

13:00/RUS: Weekly International Reserves

14:30/US: 07/24 EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report

20:30/US: Federal Discount Window Borrowings

20:30/US: Foreign Central Bank Holdings

23:30/JPN: Jul CPI (Tokyo), CPI ex-Food (Tokyo)

23:30/JPN: Jun Labour Force Survey

23:50/JPN: Jun Preliminary Retail Sales

23:50/JPN: Jun Preliminary Industrial Production

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July 29, 2026 16:48 ET (20:48 GMT)