Traders react after the closing bell on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on March 20, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Stock futures slid on Wednesday evening, as Wall Street absorbed a fresh batch of earnings reports from megacap technology names.
S&P 500 futures lost 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.4%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.03%, or 13 points.
In after-hours action, Meta Platforms dropped nearly 3% after missing the Street’s expectations for user growth and warning that capital expenditures will rise in 2025. Microsoft’s revenue guidance disappointed investors, dragging shares about 4% lower.
During regular trading, the major averages posted modest losses. The S&P 500 declined 0.3%, while the Dow dropped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 0.6%.
Investors also weighed the third-quarter U.S. gross domestic product reading, which showed that the economy grew at a 2.8% annualized rate, falling short of the 3.1% consensus forecast from Dow Jones.
Another market catalyst awaits on Thursday morning: the personal consumption expenditures price index for September. This also happens to be the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation indicator. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect that the PCE grew by 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.1% from a year earlier.
This PCE reading, along with Friday’s October payrolls report, will inform the Fed’s interest rate decision on Nov. 7 when it ends its two-day policy meeting.
“Growth up, inflation down is precisely what you want to see,” said Jamie Cox, managing director at Harris Financial Group. “The Fed doesn’t need to be afraid of a stable and growing economy to normalize rates this cycle so long as disinflation persists.”
Tech earnings continues on Thursday with results from tech giants Apple and Amazon. Uber, Merck and Intel are also slated to report.
On the economic data front, the weekly jobless claims report is out on Thursday morning.