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Indexes fell for a second day on Thursday after a huge week for tech earnings showed mixed results.
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Meta and Microsoft fell after slight earnings, and Amazon and Apple will report after the market closes.
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PCE inflation, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, fell to 2.1%, while jobless claims fell more than expected.
Indexes fell on Thursday, heading for a second day of declines, as gains from big tech companies have so far failed to impress investors.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 200 points shortly after the opening bell.
The drop comes amid a busy week for earnings, with some of the biggest tech stocks reporting third-quarter results.
Microsoft and Meta reported earnings that beat expectations after the closing bell on Wednesday, but shares of both tech giants fell on expectations. Microsoft fell more than 4% after sharing expectations for slower growth in its cloud business, while Meta shares lost more than 2% after forecasting “significant” capital spending growth next year.
Earlier this week, Alphabet’s profit margin boosted investor enthusiasm, as CEO Sundar Pichai said the company’s AI investments were “paying off.”
Investors are bracing for gains from Apple and Amazon after the market closes today. They’ll be paying particular attention to signs that AI is driving iPhone demand for Apple, especially after the company rolled out the iOS 18.1 update earlier this week, and they expect strong earnings from Amazon.
Meanwhile, the personal consumption expenditure index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, cooled to 2.1% annually in September from 2.2% in August. That marks progress toward the Fed’s inflation target of 2%, but the core index – which excludes food and energy prices – came in higher than expected at 2.7%.
Last week’s unemployment claims fell by more than expected to 216,000, down 12,000 from the week before. Economists had expected 230,000 claims.
Here’s where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Thursday:
Here’s what else is going on:
