Stocks end mixed on Wall Street amid weak tech earnings
Weak quarterly results from several big technology companies weighed on stocks Wednesday, leaving major indexes mixed on Wall Street.
The S&P 500 fell 0.7% after shedding an early gain, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 2%. The lower finish ended a three-day winning streak for both indexes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended just barely in the green after having been up 1.1%, thanks in part to a big jump in Visa.
Smaller company stocks far outpaced the broader market, lifting the Russell 2000 index by 0.5%.
“A handful of very large companies are weighing on the indexes,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at All Star Charts. “The more exposed you are to those mega-cap tech stocks the more you’re down today, and the less exposed you are the less you’re down.”
The S&P 500 fell 28.51 points to 3,830.60. The Nasdaq fell 228.12 points to 10,970.99. The Dow rose 2.37 points to close at 31,839.11. It had briefly been up by more than 335 points. The Russell 2000 added 8.18 points at 1,804.33.
Google's parent company, Alphabet, slumped 9.6% after it reported disappointing third-quarter financial results as advertising sales weakened. Weak ad sales are threatening other tech and communications companies. Music streaming service Spotify fell 13% after it reported a bigger third-quarter loss than Wall Street expected.
Microsoft slid 7.7% after it reported disappointing growth for its cloud computing company, while profits fell along with PC sales. Chipmaker Texas Instruments fell 2.6% after giving investors a discouraging forecast for the current quarter.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, fell 10.8% in after-hours trading following the release of its third-quarter earnings, which fell short of analysts’ forecasts, according to FactSet. The stock...