Stocks were higher Thursday as market participants reacted to a series of mega-cap earnings reports and shook off the initial losses from the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 170 points while the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively.

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +0.53% or +31.86 points to 6,071.17

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.38% or +168.61 points to 44,882.13

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +0.25% or +49.43 points to 19,681.75

Investor sentiment was dampened Thursday as U.S. economic growth slowed at a faster-than-expected pace in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. GDP, which measures all goods and services produced by the U.S. economy, accelerated at a 2.3% annualized rate in the fourth-quarter, adjusted for inflation. For the full year, GDP grew by 2.8% compared with 2.9% in 2023.

"The U.S. consumer continued to power overall economic growth as employment and wage gains remain firm and massive wealth effects from sharp increases in equity and home values turbo charge spending especially among upper-income households," said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, quoted by Yahoo!Finance. "Holding back growth was a decline in business investment ... the drawdown in inventories, especially at the wholesale level indicates that retailers also scurried to stock up before possible tariffs. This could continue into early 2025."

On the Earnings Front:

Comcast (CMCSA  ) shares fell Thursday after the telecom reported a faster-than-expected drop in broadband subscribers in its fourth-quarter, a loss of 139,000. Its cable subscribers also declined by 311,000. Otherwise, Comcast reported a fourth-quarter beat on both top and bottom lines.

Executives told analysts during the company's earnings call on Thursday that they plan to shift their strategy to package mobile with broadband to attract more would-be subscribers.

"While we are incumbent in the $80 billion U.S. residential broadband market. We are the challenger in the far larger $200 billion U.S. wireless market," said CFO Jason Armstrong. "Wireless is an integral part of our broadband strategy."

Microsoft (MSFT  ) shares also fell lower Thursday after the software giant issued weaker-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results and offered disappointing forward guidance. The company's revenue rose 12.3% annually in its recent quarter, marking its slowest quarter-to-quarter growth since 2023. Its Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes its Azure business, reported revenues of $25.54, notably 19% below analyst consensus estimates.

For its fiscal third-quarter, Microsoft is calling for revenue between $67.7 billion to $68.7 billion, compared with the $69.78 billion consensus estimates from LSEG.

"In Azure, we expect Q3 revenue growth to be between 31% and 32% in constant currency driven by strong demand for our portfolio of services," CFO Amy Hood told analysts during the company's earnings call on Wednesday. "As we shared in October, the contribution from our AI services will grow from increased AI capacity coming online."

IBM (IBM  ) reported strong fourth-quarter earnings late Wednesday, with its annual revenue rising 1% to $62.8 billion as software revenue grew 8% while infrastructure revenue decreased by 4%. Moreover, IBM said its software segment rose 10% year-over-year to $7.9 billion, driven in-part by demand for its AI technology and its Red Hat Linux operating system.

"We closed the year with double-digit revenue growth in Software for the quarter, led by further acceleration in Red Hat," CEO Arvind Krishna said in a statement. "Clients globally continue to turn to IBM to transform with AI."

Tesla (TSLA  ) reported disappointing fourth-quarter results late Wednesday, with its stock initially declining after-hours before rising higher on Thursday. The electric vehicle maker's revenue increased 2% from $25.17 billion a year earlier, as automotive revenue fell 8% to $19.8 billion year-over-year.

Tesla did not give specific guidance for the year ahead, but said, "we expect the vehicle business to return to growth in 2025," and reiterated plans to "unlock an unsupervised FSD option," and "begin launching" its Cybercab driverless ride-hailing business "later this year" in select U.S. cities.

Meta Platforms (META  ) shares rose Thursday after the social media giant reported strong fourth-quarter earnings late Wednesday. The company said it expects first-quarter revenue between $39.5 billion and $41.8 billion, and reiterated its recent announcement to invest as much as $65 billion in capital expenditures in 2025 to drive its AI strategy.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he expects 2025 to redefine the company's relationships with governments. The company reportedly agreed to pay about $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit that President Donald Trump filed against Meta and Zuckerberg after its platform suspended his accounts following the U.S. Capitol Attack on Jan. 6, 2021, the Wall Street Journal reports.

"We now have a U.S. administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning and that will defend our values and interests abroad," Zuckerberg told analysts during the company's earnings call on Wednesday. "I am optimistic about the progress and innovation that this can unlock."

For Friday:

Market participants will turn their attention towards earnings reports from companies including Apple (AAPL  ), Visa (V  ), Intel (INTC  ), Exxon Mobil (XOM  ) and Chevron (CVX  ) on Friday.

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