Alphabet Misses Earnings Expectations, Shares Plunge
US stocks fell on Thursday amid weaker-than-expected corporate earnings and volatility in the artificial intelligence sector, with the three major indexes declining and the S&P 500 facing pressure to end its three-day winning streak, with the Nasdaq Composite falling the most. Google parent Alphabet saw its shares plunge as third-quarter adjusted earnings per share and revenue both missed market expectations. The company reported free cash flow of negative US$9.07 billion, while maintaining its full-year capital expenditure forecast at US$195 billion to US$205 billion. As of press time, the stock fell US$39.29 or 12.21%.
Caterpillar Retreats Despite Beat
Dow component and industrial giant Caterpillar, although third-quarter revenue and profit beat expectations, saw its shares pull back as construction machinery sales came in slightly below market estimates. As of press time, the stock fell US$56.28 or 7.89%. The market focused on earnings details, with the overall beat still pressured by a single business miss, reflecting investors' cautious stance on the economic and demand outlook.
Microsoft Gives Up Gains, New Cloud Concept Stocks Fall
In its fiscal first quarter ended September, Microsoft initially beat LSEG-polled analyst expectations on revenue and profit driven by strong growth in its Azure cloud infrastructure business, rising at the open, but then gave up gains to trade lower, down more than 1%. As Microsoft's capital expenditure commitment came in below expectations, suggesting infrastructure partners may take longer to deliver data center capacity, new cloud concept stocks such as Nebius fell more than 2%.
Nvidia Edges Lower, Indexes All Down, Taiex Futures Fall
In addition, foreign media reported that through surveillance, US intelligence agencies learned of highly sensitive intelligence that a Singapore data center executive who had close dealings with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been officially identified as a Chinese spy, suspected of spying for Beijing and collecting key intelligence. In response, Nvidia said it was only normal business-related interactions with customers. As of press time, Nvidia fell US$2.05 or 0.95%. As of press time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 211.59 points or 0.40%, the S&P 500 fell 31.32 points or 0.40%, the Nasdaq fell 368.20 points or 1.39%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 171.08 points or 1.46%. Among benchmark stocks, Apple rose US$6.15 or 1.79%, and TSMC ADR fell US$6.90 or 1.57%. Taiex night futures temporarily fell 86 points or 0.18% to 46483 points.