Nasdaq-100 rises 1.1% as Tesla gains 3%; Fed decision next Wednesday

Closes for Wednesday 21 October: the Nasdaq-100 rose 1.13% and the S&P 500 rose 0.58%. Plus the week’s scheduled releases.

By PYE Markets data desk (automated) • Published 2026-10-22 • 2 min read

Written by software from the data shown, at 05:07 ET on 22 October 2026. Not edited before publication. How this is made

The Nasdaq-100 closed Wednesday 21 October at 29,822.52, up 332.24 points or 1.13%. The S&P 500 rose 0.58% to 7,757.17, compared with Tuesday’s close.

Largest US stocks

Of the eight mega-cap stocks we follow (Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Broadcom and Tesla), six closed higher on Wednesday. Tesla gained the most, 3.41% to $386.47, and Alphabet fell the most, 1.62% to $334.76.

Futures, bitcoin and the euro

E-mini S&P 500 front-month futures closed at 7,800.25 on Wednesday. WTI crude futures closed at $97.15 a barrel and Comex gold futures at $4,150.00 an ounce on Wednesday. Bitcoin ended the UTC day of 21 October at $84,012, up 1.29%. The European Central Bank’s euro reference rate was $1.1234 per euro on 21 October.

Rates

The 10-year Treasury yield was 5.12% and the 2-year 4.79% on 20 October. The 10-year real yield was 2.77% (20 October) and 10-year breakeven inflation 2.37% (21 October). The effective fed funds rate was 3.88% on 20 October, inside the Fed’s 3.75–4.00% target range.

What a normal day looks like

The S&P 500’s 20-day realized volatility, from daily closes to 21 October, was 8.9% a year. At that rate one standard deviation of daily movement is about ±43 points (7,757.17 × 8.9% ÷ √252). About two days in three have historically stayed inside that range; realized volatility looks back, not forward, and real markets have fatter tails than this arithmetic assumes.

New filings

Filed with the SEC since our last note, as listed on EDGAR:

  • Meta Platforms (21 October): Form 8-K: Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement; Item 2.02 Results of Operations and Financial Condition; Item 8.01 Other Events; Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.
  • Tesla Inc. (21 October): Form 8-K: Item 2.02 Results of Operations and Financial Condition; Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.

Coming up

US releases and decisions scheduled in the seven days from Thursday 22 October, from the official calendars:

  • Today, Thu 22 Oct, 08:30 AM ET: Weekly jobless claims (Department of Labor).
  • Wed 28 Oct, 02:00 PM ET: FOMC statement & rate decision (Federal Reserve).
  • Thu 29 Oct, 08:30 AM ET: GDP (advance estimate) & Personal Income & Outlays (PCE) & Weekly jobless claims (Department of Labor and BEA).
  • Some prop firms restrict trading around these releases; each firm’s rule and its source are on our prop-firm pages.

Sources

Sources: Yahoo Finance daily closes, delayed (^NDX, ^GSPC, NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, META, AVGO, TSLA, ES=F, CL=F, GC=F, BTC-USD); FRED (DGS10, DGS2, DFII10, T10YIE, EFFR, DFEDTARL/U); ECB euro reference rates; SEC EDGAR; official release calendars (Federal Reserve, BEA, BLS, Department of Labor). The daily range is our calculation from 20-day realized volatility of S&P 500 closes. General market information, not investment advice.