NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were mixed on Thursday (Oct 27) as markets took in a range of company earnings, with the Nasdaq slumping on weak results from Facebook parent Meta while the Dow ended higher.
The movements came after Meta reported a plunge in its quarterly profit, dragging the firm’s shares 24.6% lower.
Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft had earlier reported weak earnings as well, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index closed 1.6% down to 10,792.68.
But the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6% at 32,033.28, helped by a better-than-expected performance from companies such as McDonald’s and Caterpillar.
The broad-based S&P 500 Index lost 0.6% to 3,807.30.
This came on the back of data showing that the US economy expanded 2.6% in the third quarter, although economists warned of a less rosy outlook ahead with consumer spending softening and business investment weakening.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slid to 3.94%, falling below the 4% threshold, on hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon pivot from its policy of aggressive interest rate hikes aimed at countering inflation.
A smaller-than-expected rate increase Wednesday from the Bank of Canada also boosted hopes for a similar shift soon from the Fed. – AFP
