[1/4]Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., October 26, 2023. Portal/Brendan McDermid ACQUIRES LICENSE RIGHTS
- Meta Platforms forecasts 2024 spending to exceed estimates
- UPS lowers full-year revenue forecast
- Mastercard forecast fourth-quarter net revenue growth below estimates
- Indices in the red: Dow 0.40%, S&P 0.75%, Nasdaq 1.30%
Oct 26 (Portal) – Major Wall Street indexes fell on Thursday as mega-cap stocks remained under pressure as investors assessed the ongoing quarterly earnings season and a mixed set of data.
Meta Platforms (META.O) fell about 4% even after third-quarter results beat expectations, as the Facebook parent company forecast higher-than-estimated spending in 2024 and suggested the Middle East conflict would dampen fourth-quarter sales could.
The 10-year Treasury yield was still hovering near 5 percent, although it fell according to inflation and disposable income data, leaving mega-caps Tesla (TSLA.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) down 1.7 % and 3.1% respectively.
Amazon.com (AMZN.O) fell 1.2%, beating results expected after the closing bell, while Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) fell 1.8%, adding to its 9.5% decline contributed on Wednesday.
On the data front, core consumer spending fell to 2.4% in the third quarter, while weekly jobless claims rose to 210,000 versus the expected 208,000.
Traders expect the Federal Reserve to maintain policy this year and begin cutting interest rates in mid-2024, even though the U.S. economy posted its fastest growth in nearly two years in the third quarter.
“The Fed will not take the liquidity squeeze out of the economy until it sees the last embers of inflation burnout,” said Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.
The focus on Friday will be on the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the September personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index.
United Parcel Service (UPS.N) fell 4.0% on Thursday after cutting its full-year revenue forecast, while Comcast (CMCSA.O) fell 6.4% after the media giant reported a surprise customer loss in its Broadband business reported.
“Transformers” action figure maker Hasbro (HAS.O) slumped 10.4% after cutting its full-year sales forecast. Mattel (MAT.O) slumped 7.4% after the Barbie doll maker warned that industry demand would weaken ahead of the crucial holiday season.
Mastercard (MA.N) fell 5.3% after the company forecast weaker-than-expected net sales growth in the fourth quarter.
Western Digital (WDC.O) slumped 11.2% after news that the U.S.-based company and Japan’s Kioxia Holdings have broken off talks to create one of the world’s largest chipmakers.
At 11:25 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 133.72 points, or 0.40%, to 32,902.21, and the S&P 500 (.SPX) fell 31.34 points, or 0.75% 4,155.43 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) fell 166.85 points or 1.30% to 12,654.37.
Communications Services (.SPLRCL) was the hardest-hit S&P 500 sector, while Real Estate (.SPLRCR) was the biggest gainer.
Meanwhile, Israel said its ground forces made a major push into the Gaza Strip overnight to attack Hamas targets, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was still preparing for a ground invasion that could be one of several.
With a ratio of 1.44 to 1 on the NYSE and a ratio of 1.20 to 1 on the Nasdaq, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high and 30 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 10 new highs and 287 new lows.
Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Edited by Maju Samuel and Shounak Dasgupta
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