Markets

Markets Today: Fed holds rates in split vote as stocks edge up and Bitcoin tops $81,000 (October 28, 2026)

By ToolPilot Editors · Updated October 28, 2026

The Fed held rates steady in a split 10-2 vote, stocks edged higher, and Bitcoin climbed back above $81,000 on October 28, 2026.

Wednesday was the day markets had been waiting for, and it mostly went as expected: the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, stocks edged higher, and Bitcoin climbed back above $81,000 after dipping below $80,000 earlier in the week. The calm in the headline numbers hides a split underneath — the Fed's 10-2 vote, with two officials pushing for a hike, kept a December rate increase firmly on the table, and bond yields actually rose. Stock closes as of 4 p.m. ET; crypto as of 8:17 p.m. UTC (2:17 p.m. MDT), October 28, 2026. This is not financial advice.

Crypto snapshot

Bitcoin's rebound came with help from Asia: CoinDesk reported it rising about 0.8% to $81,400 after dropping below $80,000 on Tuesday, as South Korea's Kospi jumped 6.6% on a strong SK Hynix profit report. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $176 million on Tuesday, a second straight day of inflows, which brings October's ETF flows close to flat after a $774 million two-day exit last week. Ether rose to about $2,360, and the total crypto market cap climbed about 0.5% to roughly $2.66 trillion.

Stock market snapshot

All three indexes finished in the green after the Fed decision, as The Motley Fool's close recap reports, and the closes are corroborated by the Wall Street Journal.

Today's winners and losers

Winners

• Vertiv Holdings, almost +17% — jumped on bullish long-term forecasts for AI infrastructure demand, per The Motley Fool's close recap.
• Oracle, +11% — surged after an investor day in which it set out new financial targets, per the Fool.
• Micron Technology, +5.9% — the strongest force lifting the S&P 500.
• Wendy's, +15.1% — jumped after Trian Fund Management, run by investor Nelson Peltz, offered to buy the chain, per the AP.
• Pepe (PEPE), +9.4% — topped the CoinDesk 100 after Arkham Intelligence said wallets it links to Tron founder Justin Sun hold about $51 million of the token, per CoinDesk. Among the majors, HYPE jumped nearly 6% and Zcash rose about 5% to roughly $1,300.

Losers

• F5, over -20% — plummeted as investors weighed its guidance and an analyst downgrade, per the Fool.
• Robinhood Markets, -3.3% — sank after reporting weaker profit and revenue than analysts expected, per the AP.
• Boston Scientific, -5.8% — fell even though its quarterly profit beat expectations, because its current-quarter forecast fell short, per the AP.
• Stronghold Token, -5.23% — the worst performer among the top 200 cryptocurrencies, per CoinCodex's daily update, which also named GMX (+10.03%) the day's top gainer.

What's driving the moves

• The Fed held rates — but the vote was split. The Federal Open Market Committee voted 10-2 to keep its benchmark range at 3.75% to 4.00%, per Investopedia's close recap. Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack dissented in favor of a quarter-point hike, and the statement said inflation "remains elevated."
• Yields rose anyway. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to about 5.04%, up more than four basis points from Tuesday's close, per Investopedia.
• Oil jumped on Middle East tensions. WTI crude rose to about $101 a barrel after a reported attack on a Saudi refinery; the Wall Street Journal put the close at $102.78, up 2.9%.
• The AI trade kept carrying stocks. SK Hynix surged about 11% in Seoul after reporting a sevenfold profit jump, and the chip rally spilled into U.S. tech and into crypto, per CoinDesk — but Tuesday's narrow breadth (six of eleven S&P sectors falling) is a reminder the rally is concentrated.
• Big-tech earnings took the baton. Alphabet and Microsoft reported after Wednesday's close, and The Motley Fool notes Amazon and Intel report Thursday after the close.

What investors are watching next

Thursday brings September PCE inflation data — the Fed's preferred gauge — plus Amazon and Intel earnings after the close, which could firm up December expectations. Traders are already pricing roughly an 85% chance of a quarter-point hike at the Fed's December 9 meeting, per CME FedWatch as cited by Investopedia, and Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, told Investopedia that the Fed "left plenty of clues that they were planning to raise rates in December." In crypto, traders are watching whether Bitcoin can hold above $80,000 into Friday's large options expiry, and Galaxy's head of research Alex Thorn argued in a Tuesday note that now is the time to accumulate Bitcoin, per CoinDesk — though as the Fool cautions, a return to sustained ETF inflows would be a more convincing sign the market is stabilizing.

Bottom line

Wednesday delivered the expected Fed hold and a modest market gain, but the details lean hawkish: two dissents for a hike, a 10-year yield above 5%, oil above $102, and December hike odds near 85%. Stocks and crypto both rose anyway, carried by chips and AI optimism — a constructive tape, but one whose next chapter depends on Thursday's inflation data and big-tech earnings. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell anything — it is a snapshot of one day, and tomorrow's data can change the picture quickly.