Wall St eyes lower open as megacaps fall; economic data in focus

WALL Street’s main indexes were poised to open lower on Thursday, as megacap stocks remained under pressure from elevated Treasury yields, while investors took stock of recent Big Tech earnings and a mixed batch of economic data.

Even after its third-quarter results beat expectations, Meta Platforms dropped 4.1% in premarket trading as the Facebook parent forecast 2024 spending above estimates and suggested the Middle East conflict could dampen fourth-quarter sales.

The 10-year Treasury yield hovered near the 5% mark even after a pullback, dragging megacaps Tesla and Microsoft down 1.5% and 0.2%.

Amazon.com shed 1.1% ahead of its results, due after the closing bell.

Google-parent Alphabet lost 2.2%, adding to its 9.5% tumble on Wednesday after it posted disappointing cloud services revenue.

On the data front, the U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly two years in the third quarter, again defying dire warnings of a recession that have lingered since 2022.

Durable goods rose 4.7% in September, higher than the estimated 1.7%, while jobless claims climbed to 210,000 in the week ended Oct. 21, versus the expected 208,000.

“Jobless claims came in worse than expected, which gives the Fed some level of cover to stay put and not do anymore either in November or hopefully in December, then you have core PCE prices, which adds to that narrative,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC.

“The Fed looks at jobs and inflation as to whether they’re going to tighten even more. So, in the case of GDP, good news is good news and it’s a Goldilocks morning of economic data.”

Traders added to bets the Federal Reserve will keep policy on hold through this year and will begin interest rate cuts in mid-2024.

Further on earnings, United Parcel Service dipped 4.2% after lowering its full-year revenue forecast.

Hasbro slid 12.3% after the maker of “Transformers” action figures cut its annual revenue forecast. Mattel tumbled 11.7% after the Barbie doll-maker warned of slowing demand for the industry heading into the crucial holiday season.

Southwest Airlines dropped 2.2% following a 30% fall in third-quarter profit on soaring labor and fuel costs.

So far, 80% of the 146 S&P 500 companies that have reported results have beat earnings expectations, LSEG data showed on Wednesday.

At 8:49 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 30 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 16.5 points, or 0.39%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 91.75 points, or 0.63%.

All the three major U.S. stock indexes slumped in the previous session, with the S&P 500 closing below the closely watched 4,200 level, while the Nasdaq touched a five-month low.

On the geopolitical front, Israel said its ground forces had pushed into Gaza overnight to attack Hamas targets. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was “preparing for a ground invasion” that could be one of several.

Among other stocks, Ford Motor advanced 2.4% after reaching a tentative labor deal with the United Auto Workers union to end a strike. – Reuters