[New York = E-Daily Seong Joowon Correspondent] U.S. stock markets in New York opened higher on the 28th (local time) ahead of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) decision on the benchmark interest rate. With an interest rate freeze widely expected, SK hynix’s record-breaking earnings boosted investor sentiment toward semiconductor stocks. Market attention is focused on the Fed’s projected interest rate path, to be announced this afternoon, and on the earnings reports from Alphabet and Microsoft (MS), which are scheduled to be released after the market closes.

As of around 9:41 a.m. on the New York Stock Exchange, the S&P 500 index was up 0.12% from the previous close. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.07%. With tech stocks showing relative strength, the Nasdaq 100 Index is also attempting to post gains for the third consecutive trading day.
Investors are awaiting the results of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, scheduled to be announced at 2:00 p.m. today. In September, the Fed raised the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to a range of 3.75% to 4.00% annually. The market estimates there is about a 90% chance that rates will remain unchanged at this meeting.
The key issue is not whether rates will remain unchanged, but the possibility of further hikes in the future. In the economic outlook released by the Fed last month, policy makers anticipated one additional rate hike this year. With inflationary pressures persisting, all eyes are on Fed Chair Kevin Warsh to see what signals he will send regarding the future direction of monetary policy during his 2:30 p.m. press conference. The fact that the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note has once again surpassed 5% is also weighing on the stock market.
Semiconductor stocks rose across the board, buoyed by strong earnings from SK hynix(000660). SK hynix announced that its third-quarter operating profit surged 632% year-over-year to 83.3338 trillion won. Revenue also reached 104.6155 trillion won, surpassing the 100 trillion won mark on a quarterly basis for the first time in history. Growing demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for artificial intelligence (AI) and server memory drove these results.
In early trading on the New York Stock Exchange today, SK hynix American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are surging by about 8%, while Micron Technology is also up 4%. Arm Holdings is up 2%, while Intel, Marvell Technology, and AMD are each rising by around 2%. Expectations that demand for AI infrastructure investment remains robust have grown after SK hynix announced that it has secured more than 50% of its production capacity for 2027–2028 through long-term contracts.
The market’s next test will be the earnings reports from Alphabet and Microsoft, scheduled for release after the market closes today. Recently, AI-related companies have seen their stock prices corrected amid concerns that their revenue growth is lagging behind massive data center investments. Investors are expected to assess whether increased investment is actually translating into improved earnings by examining the growth rates of the two companies’ cloud businesses and their AI capital expenditure plans.
Some on Wall Street believe the correction in tech stocks has largely run its course. Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley’s chief U.S. equity strategist, appeared on CNBC the previous day and stated that the market has effectively digested the correction of the past few months, expressing the view that most of the correction is over.
However, rising international oil prices and concerns over prolonged high interest rates remain variables that could limit further gains in the stock market. The direction of the New York stock market today is expected to depend on the Fed’s interest rate decision, remarks by Chair Wash, and earnings reports from Big Tech companies.