US Equity Futures Fall Pre-Bell As Fed Holds Rate Steady, Traders Assess Big Tech Earnings

08:10 AM EDT, 10/29/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were edging lower pre-bell Thursday as the Federal Reserve maintained the target rate for federal funds and traders digested the financial results of several Big Tech companies. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 0.2% lower, S&P 500 futures were down 0.3%, and Nasdaq futures were 1.1% lower. The Federal Reserve held its policy rate steady at a range between 3.75% and 4% Wednesday in a split decision, while Chair Kevin Warsh announced a reduction in the number of rate-setting meetings from the current eight annually, in order to devote time for discussions on the strategy. In 2028, there will be two strategy meetings and six rate-setting meetings, he said. Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) shares were down more than 11% after the company's Q3 earnings unexpectedly declined from a year ago and revenue missed analyst expectations. Traders continued to evaluate the latest round of earnings, with Eli Lilly (LLY) reporting higher Q3 non-GAAP earnings and revenue. Amazon (AMZN) and Intel (INTC) are expected to report their Q3 earnings after the market closes. Analysts polled by FactSet expect earnings of $1.97 per share on revenue of $202.22 billion for Amazon, and earnings of $0.41 on revenue of $16.54 billion for Intel. Oil prices were lower, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude down 0.9% at $110.60 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 0.8% lower at $101.98 per barrel. Initial jobless claims, scheduled for release at 8:30 am ET, are projected to have increased to 198,000 in the week ended Oct. 24 from 197,750 in the previous week, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The September core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge is expected to increase 0.3% month over month, compared with the prior month's gain of 0.2%. The advance estimate for Q3 GDP is seen coming in at 3.2%, down from 2.2% in the previous quarter. Personal income for September is seen rising by 0.3%, compared with a gain of 0.2% in the previous month.