Futures tumble as Meta, Microsoft cost warnings highlight AI trade risks
For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.
Futures down: Dow 0.59%, S&P 500 0.86%, Nasdaq 1.12%
Oct 31 (Reuters) -Wall Street futures fell sharply on Thursday, as warnings from Meta Platforms and Microsoft about rising artificial intelligence-related costs dampened optimism around megacaps, which have been the market's primary driver this year.
Shares of Facebook-owner META.O slumped 4%, while Microsoft MSFT.O dropped 3.7% in premarket trading. Both companies beat earnings estimates in results reported after the bell on Wednesday.
Markets were on edge ahead of the release of the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, the U.S. Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, for insight on how much the central bank could ease borrowing costs in the last two months of 2024. Nonfarm payrolls data is also due on Friday.
Meta warned of "significant acceleration" in AI infrastructure investments and Microsoft predicted slower growth in its Azure cloud business, signaling that the company's already hefty AI investments were not enough to keep pace with capacity constraints.
Though betting on AI-driven tech stocks propelled Wall Street to record highs this year, investor exuberance has meant stocks are trading at incredibly expensive valuations. Meta and Microsoft's warnings point to the challenges companies face in pleasing investors.
"The market is unforgiving of any AI-related company that fails to significantly outperform. Meta is the latest stock to feel the wrath of investors, despite extending its track record of doing better than analyst forecasts on key financial measures," said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
The other so-called Magnificent Seven megacap stocks fell, with Nvidia NVDA.O losing 1.5% and Alphabet GOOGL.O down 1.1%, giving up some gains after soaring in the previous session following upbeat results.
Amazon.com AMZN.O lost 1.3% and Apple AAPL.O dipped 0.3% ahead of quarterly results from both, due after market close.
At 5:08 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were down 251 points, or 0.59%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were down 50.25 points, or 0.86% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were down 229 points, or 1.12%.
The VIX .VIX, Wall Street's "fear gauge", rose to a more than three-week high as investors brace for more volatility from corporate results, the upcoming U.S. presidential election and the central bank's November meeting in the next few weeks.
Ecommerce firm eBay EBAY.O fell 9% following downbeat revenue forecasts, while trading platform Robinhood HOOD.O slumped 10.3% after its third-quarter earnings missed expectations.
Monolithic Power Systems MPWR.O dropped 9.7% after results, with other chip firms also sliding after a set of dour forecasts weighed on the sector's outlook.
Earnings from companies including Uber Technologies UBER.N, Mastercard MA.N, Bristol-Meyers Squibb BMY.N and ConocoPhillips COP.N are due before markets open.
Reporting by Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
