Stocks closed higher Tuesday as market participants panned a busy batch of corporate earnings reports and looked ahead to tomorrow’s Federal Reserve policy announcement. Chip stocks were a notable pocket of strength, with several mega caps soaring on news of a $63 billion deal between Broadcom (AVGO) and Anthropic (ANT).
At the close, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 1.2% at 26,477, the broader S&P 500 was 0.6% higher at 7,722, and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.03% to 52,377.
Broadcom jumped 4% to trade near the top of the S&P 500 after the chipmaker late Monday announced a $63 financing deal that will allow Anthropic to buy AVGO’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
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The agreement is not a straightforward purchase. Rather, four major financial institutions — Bank of America (BAC, +0.3%), BlackRock (BLK, +0.7%), Citigroup (C, +1.4%) and Morgan Stanley (MS, +1.9%) — will finance purchases of Broadcom’s AI chips and infrastructure via a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which will then lease the hardware to Anthropic.
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“The announcement should help ease investor fears around financing the AI buildout, in our view,” says Oppenheimer analyst Rick Schafer, who has an Outperform (Buy) rating on the semiconductor stock. “AVGO is providing residual value support (RVS) up to the first-lien financing amount rather than an upfront cash investment.”
The upside had a halo effect on other chipmakers, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, +5.5%), Intel (INTC, +3.6%) and Micron Technology (MU, +2.8%).
Boeing stock slumps after earnings
Boeing (BA) was the worst Dow Jones stock today, shedding 10.7% — its worst day since June 2020 — after the aerospace giant reported earnings.
While Boeing’s third-quarter revenue of $24.2 billion came in higher than expected thanks to strong sales in its defense unit, its per-share loss of 34 cents was wider than analysts forecast.
The company also said it does not expect to ramp up production of its 737 Max planes until the second half of next year on slower-than-expected wing production.
JetBlue stock soars on strong outlook
After hitting a record low on Monday, JetBlue (JBLU) soared 19% today, its best day since April 9, 2025, after the discount air carrier reported earnings.
JBLU had a wider-than-expected per-share loss in Q3, and its revenue came in just shy of analysts’ estimates. However, the company said it expects its revenue per available seat mile (RASM) — a key financial metric for airlines — to increase as much as 22% in Q4.
“All in, JBLU’s trends appear to be strong operationally in areas within control,” says UBS Global Research analyst Atul Maheswari. “High fuel costs remain a headwind, but we continue to believe JBLU has enough liquidity reserves to manage through at least the near term.”
Consumer confidence rises ahead of the October Fed meeting
Several economic reports were released Tuesday, including better-than-expected readings on September new home sales and durable goods.
The Conference Board also released its latest Consumer Confidence Index, which rose 7.5 points from September to October, to 91.7.
The data reflect “improved perceptions of current and expected business conditions,” says Fergus McCormick, senior economist of global indicators at The Conference Board.
Still, McCormick notes that consumer confidence remains in a long-term downtrend. “Consumers planned less spending on services and durable goods over the next six months. This likely reflected higher price levels and persistent inflation, which eroded consumers’ purchasing power.”
Indeed, “further strength in the coming months is still required for the trend to turn and become a more meaningful tailwind,” says Jordan Rizzuto, managing partner & CIO at GammaRoad Capital Partners.
The economic calendar remains busy the remainder of the week, with all eyes on tomorrow’s conclusion of the October Fed meeting. You can follow along with all the latest news and updates on our live blog.