Stocks continued to decline Thursday as weaker-than-expected big tech earnings disappointed the broader market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 375 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite lost nearly 1.8% and 2.8%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -1.86% or -108.30 points to 5,705.37
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.90% or -378.35 points to 41,763.19
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -2.76% or -512.78 points to 18,095.15
On the Earnings Front:
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings late Wednesday, as its daily active users came in below estimates at 3.29 billion and the company said it expects capital expenditures to grow in 2025 due to increased infrastructure expenses.
"Our AI investments continue to require serious infrastructure, and I expect to continue investing significantly there, too, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company's call with analysts.
The company expects total expenses for fiscal 2024 to range between $96 billion and $98 billion, below its prior guidance of $96 billion to $99 billion. The social media giant also sees fourth-quarter revenue to come in between $45 billion and $48 billion.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter earnings late Wednesday, but issued a soft current quarter outlook as the tech giant is impacted to delayed supplier delivers for data center infrastructure. The company expects fiscal second-quarter revenue in the range of $68.1 billion to $69.1 billion, implying about 10% growth.
"Demand continues to be higher than our available capacity," said CFO Amy Hood during the company's call with analysts.
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) reported disappointing fiscal fourth-quarter earnings late Wednesday as sales in both the United States and China, its two largest markets, lagged. Global same-store sales fell 7%, with U.S. coffee shops reporting a 6% decline and China seeing sales drop 14%.
"It is clear we been to fundamentally change our strategy to win back customers," CEO Brian Niccol, in his first earnings report as head of the coffee giant, said in a statement. "We have a clear plan and are moving quickly to return Starbucks to growth."
Niccol's plan includes more emphasis on the customer experience at the chain's restaurants, with a nre goal of hand delivering drinks in under four minutes; roughly half of current orders are within that timeline, according to Niccol. The company is also getting rid of premium charges for milk alternatives and plans to bring the condiment bars back to cafes.
Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) reported better-than-expected third-quarter revenue on Thursday, but its gross bookings disappointed analysts at a total of only $40.97 billion for the period. The company logged 2.9 billion trips during the quarter, up 17% year-over-year, with the ride-hailer's monthly active platform consumers rising 13% annually to 161 million.
"We are in the fortunate position of having strong performance in our core business, which allows us to make organic investments in new products and capabilities that will pay off for our platform over the long term," CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement.
For the fourth-quarter, Uber expects gross bookings between $42.75 billion and $44.25 billion, alongside adjusted EBITDA of $1.78 billion to $1.88 billion.
In Economic News:
Consumer Prices rose in-line with expectations in September, the Commerce Department reported Thursday, as inflation continues to trend near the Federal Reserve's target.
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month and 2.1% year-over-year, coming near the Fed's target inflation rate of 2% annually. Excluding food and energy prices, so-called core PCE rose 0.3% month-to-month and 2.7% year-over-year in September, with the annual rate matching August's but coming in a 0.1 percentage point higher than forecasts.
For Friday:
Market participants will turn their attention towards October's "official" jobs report due out Friday morning, alongside earnings reports from companies including Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX).