Good morning, friends and Fortune readers.
Stocks look set to open lower, following Tuesday’s strong gains, and ahead of the Fed’s expected decision this afternoon to end its massive bond-buying program. Investors will also be looking for any clues on U.S. monetary policy. Here’s what else you need to know about today.
1. Have some chocolate and cheese
Two iconic American food companies report earnings today: Hershey (HSY) reported earnings slightly under expectations this morning, but expects to gain market share during the upcoming candypocalypse that his Halloween. Kraft Foods (KRFT) reports its earnings this afternoon.
2. There’s no meeting like a FOMC meeting
The Federal Reserve’s policy-setting committee, the Federal Open Market Committee, concludes a two-day monetary policy meeting later today, and the Fed is expected to announce the conclusion of its $4 trillion bond-buying program, also called quantitative easing. Investors will also be looking for any information about when the central bank could start raising interest rates.
3. Rocket ride
A rocket produced by Orbital Sciences(ORB), which was bound for the International Space Station, exploded on the tarmac last night. Luckily no one was hurt — except for Orbital Sciences’ stock, which tumbled. This could obviously mean good things for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the other company that hauls materials to the ISS for NASA.
4. Investors don’t “like” Facebook’s earnings
Following Facebook’s (FB) earnings report last night, shares of the social networking company were down 6% overnight. the New York Times notes that some of this has to do with long-term plans announced by CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, namely more spending.
5. Earnings from Germany
Deutsche Bank reported its earnings this morning, and litigation dominated the conversation. The bank posted a $117 million loss, largely based on money set aside to deal with legal problems stemming from alleged bad actions of employees, according to Dealbook.