S&P 500, Nasdaq poised for lower open as Alphabet slides

THE Nasdaq and the S&P 500 were set to open lower on Wednesday as tech giant Alphabet slumped after its cloud division missed revenue estimates, while other mega-cap stocks also edged lower pressured by rising U.S. Treasury yields.

Google-parent Alphabet slid 5.9% in premarket trading as its cloud business crawled to its slowest growth in at least 11 quarters.

Microsoft, on the other hand, rose 4.6% after topping expectations for first-quarter results in all segments, including its cloud business.

“Investors are worried that Alphabet is losing out to Microsoft and Amazon in a sector deemed to have enormous growth potential due to the future uptake of generative artificial intelligence,” David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, said.

However, a rise in long-dated U.S. Treasury yields also weighed on other mega-cap stocks. Meta Platforms, due to report after the closing bell, fell 0.2%, while Apple and Amazon.com dipped 0.4% and 0.8%, respectively.

Even after cutting its 737 delivery forecast for this year, Boeing advanced 3.2% on sticking to its goal of generating $3 billion to $5 billion in free cash flow and beating third-quarter revenue estimates.

Mobile network operator T-Mobile US gained 1.5% after raising the lower end of its annual free cash flow forecast, while defense contractor General Dynamics rose 2.9% after reporting a jump in third-quarter revenue.

Of the 118 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, 81% have beaten analysts’ earnings expectations, LSEG data showed on Tuesday. Quarterly earnings are expected to grow 1.7% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military intensified its bombing of southern Gaza overnight amid international calls for a pause in fighting to let aid into the enclave and prevent many more deaths.

At 8:24 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 99 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 7.5 points, or 0.18%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 59 points, or 0.4%.

All three major U.S. stock indexes ended higher in the previous session as a bunch of strong corporate earnings and upbeat forecasts stoked risk appetite.

On the data front, focus will be on new home sales for September at 10 a.m. ET, with third-quarter gross domestic product, durable goods and personal consumption expenditure data scheduled for the rest of the week.

U.S. Federal Reserve officials were under a media blackout ahead of their decision on interest rates on Nov. 1.

Traders put the chance of interest rates remaining unchanged in November and December at around 99% and 70%, respectively, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

Texas Instruments shed 6.3% after the analog chipmaker forecast fourth-quarter revenue and profit below estimates.

CoStar Group dropped 7.7% after the real estate information provider trimmed its annual revenue outlook.

Casino operators MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment fell 1.5% and 2.6%, respectively, after the Detroit City Council passed a resolution supporting striking casino workers. – Reuters