- Indexes slid on Thursday despite a strong earnings report from Meta that sent the stock soaring.
- New jobless-claims data beat expectations and approached a one-year high, stoking economic concern.
- Investors are pricing in a 100% chance of Fed rate cuts in September.
Indexes slid Thursday amid a strong earnings report from Meta and new labor-market data.
Shares of Meta soared as much as 11% after the company beat earnings estimates in the most recent quarter and raised its full-year revenue guidance. Sales grew 22% year-over-year, marking the company's fourth consecutive quarter exceeding 20%.
Meanwhile, new labor-market data showed jobless claims came in at 249,000 for last week, above estimates of 236,000. The figure marks the highest level in nearly a year, and is another signal to the Fed that rate cuts are needed soon. Investors seem to be interpreting it as a sign of economic weakness.
After hearing comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell during Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee meeting, investors are pricing in a 100% chance of Fed rate cuts in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
"We have stated that we do not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range for the federal funds rate until we have gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%," Fed Chair Powell said in prepared remarks. "The second quarter's inflation readings have added to our confidence, and more good data would further strengthen that confidence."
In other news, chip companies are seeing mixed results after rallying across the board yesterday.
Shares of Arm fell over 7% in early trading after the smartphone chipmaker reported revenue almost 40% above Wall Street estimates, but kept its forecast for the current quarter within analyst estimates.
Qualcomm also beat earnings expectations but saw its stock down 3% Thursday.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 5,512.05, down 0.2%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 40,566.95, down 0.7% (267 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 17,568.69, down 0.2%
Here's what else is going on today:
- Amazon is set to post its second-quarter earnings after market close, and Wall Street expects strong growth in its AWS cloud and retail divisions.
- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump causes deep stock losses in companies and industries he targets, researchers say.
- Nancy Pelosi's husband just bought more Nvidia and trimmed his Microsoft stake.
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
- Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose as much as 1.3% to $81.80 a barrel.
- Gold rose 0.8% to $2,446.50 per ounce.
- Bitcoin slipped 0.7% to $64,108.78