Wall Street Week Ahead: A Fed Decision on Wednesday, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon Report, and Oil Near $117

Wall Street heads into the busiest week of the earnings season with a Federal Reserve meeting in the middle of it and oil prices near multi-year highs. Stocks ended Friday lower, according to Yahoo Finance's closing table: the S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent to 7,623.68, the Dow dropped 652.82 points, or 1.2 percent, to 52,215.16, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.2 percent to 25,955.34. The Russell 2000 closed at 2,775.90.

Oil was the pressure point. Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia pushed Brent to its highest level since late April, and the energy sector rose 2.4 percent to a record, while consumer staples and financial shares led the declines, the AP reported. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished the week lower and the Dow edged higher.

What is the Fed expected to do on Wednesday?

The Federal Open Market Committee meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the decision and statement due at 2pm Eastern on Wednesday and a press conference at 2:30pm, TradingKey's calendar shows. The target range is 3.75 percent to 4 percent after a quarter-point increase in September, the first in more than three years. CME FedWatch priced about a 90 percent chance of no change as of 22 October, and there will be no new projections or dot plot at this meeting.

The real contest is December. Yahoo Finance reports that traders see roughly 70 percent odds of another quarter-point hike, with September consumer prices up 3.7 percent from a year earlier, and economist Alan Blinder expects a hawkish pause under Chair Kevin Warsh.

Which earnings matter most this week?

About one-third of the S&P 500 reports, and the focus is capital spending on artificial intelligence. Microsoft and Alphabet both report after the close on Wednesday, and Amazon follows on Thursday, according to SentiSense's calendar. Analysts expect earnings of $4.71 a share and revenue of $90.63 billion at Microsoft, $3.03 and $127.91 billion at Alphabet, and $1.96 and $202.16 billion at Amazon.

• Monday: Verizon before the open; Cadence Design, Nucor, Rambus and Amkor after the close.
• Tuesday: UPS and Boeing before the open; Visa after the close; September durable goods and new home sales.
• Wednesday: Fed decision; Chipotle, KLA, ServiceNow and T-Mobile after the close, plus Alphabet and Microsoft.
• Thursday: Mastercard, Eli Lilly and Caterpillar before the open; Intel, Coinbase, Reddit and Starbucks after the close, plus Amazon.
• Friday: Exxon Mobil and Chevron before the open.