Alphabet and Microsoft's AI cost projections are weighing on tech stocks
Futures on the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) are off by 168 points premarket, weighed down by Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft's (MSFT) post-earnings slides, though both reported encouraging fourth-quarter earnings and revenue. The companies' artificial intelligence (AI) cost projections are weighing on semiconductor and AI-related stocks this morning.
S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures are lower as well, while futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) jump higher, as investors await today's interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve. Bond yields are falling ahead of the event, in which the Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White puts the January barometer to the test.
- Celsius stock could soon bounce back.
- Plus, PARA surges on buyout offer; no money for Musk; and SOFI downgraded.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.3 million call contracts and 909,820 put contracts traded on Tuesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.66 while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.71.
- Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) stock is up 14.2% premarket, after a $14.3 billion takeover offer from American businessman Byron Allen. Should these gains hold, PARA will recover its January deficit. Year over year, the streaming stock is down 39.5% heading into today.
- Shares of electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) are off 2.7% in electronic trading, after a Delaware judge rejected CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package, as the board of directors failed to prove its fairness. Since the start of the year, Tesla stock is already down 22.9%.
- SoFi Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SOFI) stock is down 3.5% premarket, after a downgrade from Morgan Stanley to "underweight" from "equal weight." The firm cited revenue headwinds and execution risks, following the company's earnings report earlier this week. The fintech stock broke out on Monday but still sports a 15.6% year-to-date deficit.
- Plenty more earnings reports to unpack this week.
Asian Bourses Weigh Inflation Data
Stock in Asia were mostly lower Wednesday. Chinese markets paced the laggards, with the region’s Shanghai Composite losing 1.5% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shedding 1.4%, after the country’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 49.2 – a fourth-straight monthly contraction. South Korea’s industrial output, meanwhile, was cooler in December, while retail sales fell 0.8% last month. Samsung was also in focus, after the tech giant suffered a 34.6% plummet in Q4 operating profit. In response, the South Korean Kospi lost 0.07%. Japan’s Nikkei bucked the regional trend and rose 0.6%.
European stocks are more mixed this afternoon, as investors digest corporate earnings and await the Fed’s latest interest rate decision. At last glance, London’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 are both 0.2% higher, while Germany’s DAX sports a fractional 0.02% deficit.