MarketAlleys Daily Brief, Thursday October 29: SPY ETF $772.31; ECB decision scheduled

Global market snapshot

At the prior close the SPY ETF was $772.31, the QQQ ETF $725.61, the DIA ETF $524.68 and the IWM ETF $281.29; they rose 0.34%, 0.60%, 0.27% and 0.40% from the prior close, respectively. Over 24 hours crypto was softer: Bitcoin was $80,231.00 and fell 0.77%, Ether was $2,324.41 and fell 1.08%, and Solana was $100.46 and fell 1.25% over 24 hours. Major FX reference rates cited the prior ECB fixing for moves such as EUR/USD 1.1133, which fell 0.15% from the prior ECB fixing.

US equities: prior close

At the prior close the SPY ETF was $772.31, the QQQ ETF $725.61, the DIA ETF $524.68 and the IWM ETF $281.29; they rose 0.34%, 0.60%, 0.27% and 0.40% from the prior close, respectively. Big-tech and bank names showed mixed moves from the prior close: NVIDIA was $215.38 and fell 1.17%, Apple was $343.83 and fell 0.94%, Microsoft was $531.01 and fell 0.06%, Amazon was $254.60 and rose 0.59%, Alphabet was $324.89 and rose 1.34%, Meta Platforms was $612.49 and fell 1.24%, Tesla was $404.22 and fell 0.80%, and JPMorgan Chase was $339.30 and rose 1.05% from the prior close.

Europe and Asia

European and Asian ETFs closed mixed at the prior close: the EWG ETF (tracks DAX 40) was $41.80 and rose 0.67% from the prior close, the EWU ETF (tracks FTSE 100) was $47.29 and rose 0.21% from the prior close, and the EWJ ETF (tracks Nikkei 225) was $94.99 and fell 0.27% from the prior close. All figures are as of Oct 28, 20:00 UTC.

Crypto

Over 24 hours crypto was weaker across major coins: Bitcoin was $80,231.00, Ether was $2,324.41, Solana was $100.46 and XRP was $1.3000; they fell 0.77%, 1.08%, 1.25% and 1.94% over 24 hours, respectively. These prices are as of Oct 29, 05:44 UTC and reflect five-session changes shown in the data.

FX, commodities and rates

FX reference rates (prior ECB fixing, as of Oct 28, 15:00 UTC) showed EUR/USD 1.1133 fell 0.15%, USD/JPY 157.96 rose 0.09%, GBP/USD 1.3288 fell 0.30%, USD/CHF 0.8306 rose 0.24%, and AUD/USD 0.7033 was little changed from the prior ECB fixing. Commodity ETFs at the prior close (Oct 28, 20:00 UTC) included the UUP ETF at $29.06 which fell 0.21% from the prior close, the GLD ETF at $373.51 which rose 0.33% from the prior close, the SLV ETF at $49.06 which fell 0.20% from the prior close, the USO ETF at $166.57 which rose 1.64% from the prior close, the BNO ETF at $70.14 which rose 0.67% from the prior close, the UNG ETF at $9.5000 which fell 1.45% from the prior close, and the CPER ETF at $40.33 which rose 0.70% from the prior close. Treasury yields: US 2-year Treasury yield 4.70% (+2 bp) and US 10-year Treasury yield 4.99% (-1 bp), observation date Tue Oct 27; the Fed broad trade-weighted dollar index was 121.32 on Fri Oct 23 (stale).

Top catalysts ahead

Today the U.S. BEA is scheduled to release GDP and Personal income and outlays / PCE (BEA), and the Department of Labor is scheduled to publish weekly jobless claims, all on Thu Oct 29 (times not confirmed). Before the open LLY, CAT and MRK are scheduled to report Q3 2026 earnings; the ECB is scheduled to hold its monetary policy decision at Thu Oct 29, 13:15 UTC; and Amazon is scheduled to report Q3 2026 earnings after the close.

• Thu Oct 29 (time not confirmed) — GDP (BEA) (US) (source)
• Thu Oct 29 (time not confirmed) — Personal income and outlays / PCE (BEA) (US) (source)
• Thu Oct 29 (before the open) — LLY Q3 2026 earnings · EPS estimate 6.61
• Thu Oct 29 (before the open) — CAT Q3 2026 earnings · EPS estimate 7.16
• Thu Oct 29 (before the open) — MRK Q3 2026 earnings · EPS estimate 2.10

Three stories to watch

The Federal Reserve published an FOMC statement, according to the Federal Reserve. The Bank of England published the remit for the Monetary Policy Committee, according to the Bank of England. SEC EDGAR filed Microsoft’s Form 10-Q quarterly report, according to SEC EDGAR.

• Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement — Federal Reserve, Oct 28, 18:00 UTC
• Remit for the Monetary Policy Committee - October 2026 — Bank of England, Oct 28, 14:16 UTC
• Microsoft files Form 10-Q: quarterly report — SEC EDGAR, Oct 28, 20:07 UTC

What matters next

Key items ahead will remain on the calendar: IEP is scheduled to report Q3 2026 earnings and the BEA is scheduled to release Personal income and outlays / PCE and GDP on Thu Oct 29; the ECB monetary policy decision is scheduled for Thu Oct 29, 13:15 UTC. Later this week and next week the Bank of England rate decision (Mon Nov 5, 12:00 UTC), the US Employment Situation (Fri Nov 6, 13:30 UTC) and the FOMC rate decision (Wed Dec 9, 19:00 UTC) are scheduled on the calendar.

• Next central-bank decision: Thu Oct 29, 13:15 UTC — ECB monetary policy decision (EU) (source)
• Next high-impact data: Thu Oct 29 (time not confirmed) — GDP (BEA) (US) (source)
• Next major earnings: Thu Oct 29 (time not confirmed) — IEP Q3 2026 earnings · EPS estimate 0.09

Sources and data

• Finnhub (market data) — market data
• CoinGecko (market data) — market data
• European Central Bank (euro reference rates) (primary source) — market data
• U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Board via FRED (primary source) — Yields and dollar index
• U.S. Energy Information Administration via FRED (primary source) — calendar
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (primary source) — calendar
• Bank of England (primary source) — calendar
• Federal Reserve (primary source) — calendar
• SEC EDGAR (primary source) — Microsoft files Form 10-Q: quarterly report
• U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (primary source) — CFTC to Host Roundtable on 24/7 Trading

Market data as of Oct 29, 05:44 UTC; report generated Oct 29, 06:00 UTC. All times are UTC. Each table row shows its own timestamp and provider.

This report was produced by the MarketAlleys Research Desk using automated data processing and language tools from the sources listed above, and checked against our automated-content validation rules. It is for information only and is not investment advice.