U.S. Stocks Close | All Three Major Indices Decline, Nasdaq Falls Nearly 1.6%; Most Large-Cap Tech Stocks Trade Lower, Meta Plummets Over 11%; Post-Earnings Surge for Amazon Lifts Stock Over 13%, Apple Rises More Than 3%.

Investor skepticism over the Federal Reserve’s prospect of rate cuts continued to mount, with markets failing to rebound from yesterday’s Powell-induced sell-off. Meta’s stock plummeted 11% due to its massive AI spending plan, triggering widespread concerns about the return on AI investments. All three major U.S. indices declined, with the Nasdaq leading the losses.

Yields on key maturities of U.S. Treasuries extended yesterday’s gains, with the 10-year yield rising by 2.32 basis points. After the ECB decision, the euro fell as much as 90 points against the dollar from its daily high, while the U.S. Dollar Index climbed above 99. A sell-off hit the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin posting a third consecutive decline and falling below $110,000. Spot gold rebounded above $4,000 per ounce. U.S. crude oil found support near $60 for two consecutive days.

The following is the performance of core assets:

• Before the U.S. stock market opened, Wall Street News reported that the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged at 2% for the third time in a row. However, markets expect a 40% to 50% likelihood of another ECB rate cut before June next year. The euro fell 0.34% against the dollar in the short term. Germany’s 10-year bond yield rose 4 basis points to 2.66%.

• In early trading, uncertainty over the Fed’s potential rate cuts this year weighed on investor sentiment, causing all three major U.S. indexes to open lower. Overnight earnings reports from Meta and Microsoft further dampened confidence, with Meta plunging approximately 12%, marking its largest drop in months. Microsoft shares fell nearly 3%. Dragged down by tech giants’ performance, the Nasdaq quickly widened its losses to more than 1%.

• During midday trading, Eli Lilly and Co and Metsera saw their shares strengthen amid news of a weight-loss drug acquisition battle, with the latter surging 22%. Copper futures prices dropped more than 4%, pressuring copper mining stocks broadly lower. The cryptocurrency market was not spared either, with major coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum experiencing declines of varying degrees.

• In afternoon trading, following its sharp decline, Meta announced it would issue $30 billion worth of high-grade corporate bonds to fund its extensive capital expenditure plans, setting a new record for the largest investment-grade bond issuance in the U.S. market this year.

• By the close, U.S. equities failed to reverse their downward trend, with all three major indexes finishing lower. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 1.58%, while the S&P 500 fell nearly 1%. Both the U.S. Dollar Index and Treasury yields moved higher.

• After the US stock market closed, tech giants continued to release their latest quarterly reports, with Amazon surging 13% and Apple rising 3%.

On Thursday, all three major US stock indexes fell, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping more than 1.7%, and the semiconductor index declining over 1.5%. The Chinese concept index fell approximately 1.9%, and Alibaba dropped over 3.3%. Following earnings releases, Amazon soared 13%, while Apple gained 3%.

Benchmark US Equity Indices:

• The S&P 500 Index fell by 68.25 points, or 0.99%, closing at 6,822.34 points.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 109.88 points, or 0.23%, closing at 47,522.12 points.

• The Nasdaq Composite fell by 377.329 points, or 1.58%, closing at 23,581.144 points. The Nasdaq 100 Index declined by 385.033 points, or 1.47%, closing at 25,734.813 points.

• The Russell 2000 Index dropped by 0.76%, closing at 2,465.953 points.

• The VIX volatility index remained unchanged, closing at 16.92.

U.S. sector ETFs:

• The consumer discretionary sector fell by more than 2.25%, the AI robotics sector dropped by 1.98%, and U.S. solar energy declined by 1.77%.

Mag 7:

• The Mag 7 index fell by 2.15%.

• Alphabet A shares increased by 2.52%, Apple rose by 0.63%, NVIDIA fell by 2.04%, Microsoft dropped by 2.90%, Amazon declined by 3.23%, Tesla decreased by 4.64%, and Meta plummeted by 11.33%.

Chip Stocks:

• The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed down 1.53% at 7,215.998 points.

• Taiwan Semiconductor’s ADR fell by 0.59%, and AMD dropped by 3.59%.

Chinese Concept Stocks:

• The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed down 1.88% at 8,230.19 points.

• Among the popular Chinese stocks, Pony AI fell 6.79%, while 21Vianet, GDS Holdings, and Bilibili dropped by up to 5.71%. Kingsoft Cloud, Baidu, and WeRide declined by at least 4.50%.

Other stocks:

• eBay plunged 15.88% as its Q3 earnings report showed fewer active buyers than expected, and its EPS guidance for the holiday season was below expectations.

• Clinical-stage biotech company Metsera surged 22.06%. Novo-Nordisk A/S is reportedly considering a $9 billion bid for Metsera.

The French stock index closed down more than 0.5%, while the UK stock index narrowly reached another record high close. European stocks fell 0.1%, with Arcadis and defense contractor Kongsberg Gruppen dropping over 18%.

Pan-European equities:

• The European STOXX 600 Index closed down 0.10% at 574.83 points.

• The Eurozone STOXX 50 Index closed down 0.12% at 5,699.18 points.

National indices:

• The German DAX 30 Index closed down 0.02% at 24,118.89 points.

• The French CAC 40 Index closed down 0.53% at 8,157.29 points.

• The UK FTSE 100 Index closed up 0.04% at 9,760.06 points.

Sectors and Individual Stocks:

• Among the blue-chip stocks in the Eurozone, Schneider Electric closed down 3.26%, while Inditex Group, Santander, Bayer, Deutsche Telekom, and Anheuser-Busch Inbev fell between 2.74% and 2.11%, following closely behind.

• Among all the components of the European STOXX 600 Index, Arcadis closed down 18.27%, Kongsberg Gruppen fell 18.25%, and WPP Group dropped 16.11%.

Editor/jayden