Global investors on Thursday digested new data, policy statements, and earnings reports. In Europe, the MOEX Russia Index rose 2.08%, the British FTSE edged up 0.25%, the German DAX edged up 0.12%, the French CAC dipped 0.51%, and the broad STOXX 600 index edged down 0.03%. In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 0.61% to 32,033.28, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) fell 1.63% to 10,792.68, and the broad S&P 500 (.INX) index dipped 0.61% to 3,807.3. The small cap Russell 2000 (.RUT) edged up 0.11%, and the VIX volatility index rose 0.4%.
In the S&P 500, the biggest decliners were led by technology giant Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), whose shares cratered 24.56% after it reported an earnings miss and gave a weak fourth quarter outlook. The other biggest decliners were orthodontics firm Align Technology (NASDAQ: ALGN), down 18.10%, pharmaceutical services firm West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE: WST), down 13.04%, pharmaceutical technology firm Catalent (NYSE: CTLT), down 7.88%, and rental home REIT Invitation Homes (NYSE: INVH), down 7.78%. The biggest gainers were led by cloud software firm ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), whose shares soared 13.44% after reporting earnings that beat estimates and lifting its fourth quarter guidance. The other biggest gainers were computer networking firm Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET), up 9.32%, construction equipment firm Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), up 7.79%, reinsurance and insurance firm Everest Re Group (NYSE: RE), up 7.17%, and financial services firm Raymond James (NYSE: RJF), up 6.58%.
In the Nasdaq, shares of biopharmaceutical firm Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) fell 7.48% and semiconductor firm Micron (NASDAQ: MU) fell 5.84%, while auto parts retail firm O'Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ: ORLY) jumped 4.60% and semiconductor firm Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) climbed 3.38%. Among COVID stocks, clinical laboratory firm Laboratory Corp (NYSE: LH) fell 5.94%, while biotechnology firm Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INO) rose 4.57%. In fixed income markets, the yields on Treasury bonds largely edged down, and the 3-year yield dipped 0.156%.
As of press time, in commodities markets, the price of international Brent crude oil futures climbed 0.79%, and US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.63%. The price of natural gas futures fell 3.0%. The price of gold futures edged down 0.2%, platinum rose 0.43%, palladium fell 1.05%, copper slipped 0.47%, corn futures dipped 0.47%, sugar fell 0.9%, coffee dipped 0.78%, cotton fell 3.86%, cocoa rose 1.8%, and lean hogs futures fell 3.90%. In crypto asset markets, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) slipped 1.60%, Ether (ETH) slipped 1.53%, Binance Coin (BNB) slipped 1.12%, XRP eked up 0.07%, and Cardano (ADA) slipped 2.37%.