London, Thursday, 3 February 2022 -
US Markets summary
On Thursday, Wall Street's key benchmarks fell, finishing back-to-back sessions of gains on the heels of a series of solid tech earnings, as mood weakened following Facebook's disastrous results, which sent shares of the firm and other internet peers spiralling.
The platform's parent company, Meta (FB), released fourth-quarter data that missed projections after the bell on Wednesday, putting an end to a recent winning streak in equities. The Q4 announcement sent shares down by more than 26%, as well as other technology stocks, marking the largest single-day market wipe-out in history.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 538.73 points, or 3.74 percent, while the S&P 500 dropped 2.44 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 518.17 points, or 1.45%, to end the day.
In the meantime, WTI crude oil surpassed $90 per barrel for the first time since 2014, owing to ongoing global supply limitations and geopolitical tensions.
Meta announced sales for the first quarter of 2022 that fell short of analysts' forecasts, with the business expecting between $27 billion and $29 billion in the current quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.25 billion. For the time being, the company's ability to handle Apple's (AAPL) recent privacy reforms, which allow iOS customers to opt out of having their apps track them across the web, was also a priority.
The fourth-quarter report from Facebook comes at the end of a busy week for earnings reports. Amazon's (AMZN) stock soared 15% in after-hours trading after the business reported a 9% gain in sales and a 15% increase in earnings in the last three months of 2021, thanks to a partnership with Rivian (RIVN).
This earnings season, the e-commerce behemoth is the last of five corporate behemoths that account for roughly a quarter of the S&P 500's overall market capitalization. Alphabet (GOOGL) surged earlier this week after the business beat quarterly revenue and profit projections and announced a 20-for-1 stock split.
European Markets summary
European markets ended the day lower on Thursday as traders digested the European Central Bank and Bank of England's monetary policy meetings.
The DAX fell 1.5 percent, while the Stoxx 600 fell 1.8 percent, pulled down by a 3.4 percent slump in tech equities, as the sector was rocked by disappointing earnings from US software firm Meta.
Despite Eurozone inflation hitting a new high on Wednesday, the ECB chose to keep to a steady tapering of asset purchases after the PEPP ended in March, and ruled out any rate hike until the tapering stops.
The Bank of England hiked interest rates by 25 basis points as expected, with four votes for a 50-basis-point hike, and declared the conclusion of the quantitative easing program.
Shell topped full-year profit projections because to rising oil prices, and it also announced share buybacks and dividend increases. Infineon, a German semiconductor chip manufacturer, and Siemens Healthineers, a developer of COVID-19 fast tests, both reported strong earnings.
U.S. Stock Market Indexes as at 4:00 p.m. ET
S&P 500: -112.08 (-2.44%) to 4,477.30
Nasdaq: -538.73 (-3.74%) to 13,878.82
Dow Jones: -518.99 (-1.46%) to 35,110.34
European Stock Market Indexes
STOXX Europe 600: −8.38 (1.76%) at 468.63 as on Feb 3, 6:00 PM GMT+1
FTSE 100 in London: −54.16 (0.71%) at 7,528.84 as on Feb 3, 4:35 PM GMT
DAX 30 in Germany: −245.30 (1.57%) at 15,368.47 as on Feb 3, 5:55 PM GMT+1
CAC 40 in France: −109.64 (1.54%) at 7,005.63 as on Feb 3, 6:05 PM GMT+1
FTSE MIB 30 in Italy: −299.77 (1.09%) at 27,088.96 as on Feb 3, 5:35 PM GMT+1
IBEX 35 in Spain: −23.80 (0.27%) at 8,689.40 as on Feb 3, 5:38 PM GMT+1
Other markets
Ten-year U.S. Treasury note: +6.1 bps to yield 1.8270%
Dollar index: -0.59 or -0.61% at 95.35 Feb 3, 2022 5:24 p.m. EST
VIX volatility index: +2.26 (10.23%) at 24.35 as on Feb 3, 3:15 PM CST
Oil prices
Brent crude: -0.14 or -0.15% at $ 90.97 as on Feb 3, 2022 10:22 p.m. GMT
West Texas Intermediate: +1.93 or 2.19% at $ 90.19 as on Feb 3, 2022 4:59 p.m. EST
Precious metals
Gold: -2.85 or -0.16% at $ 1,805.05 as on Feb 3, 17:39 NY Time
Silver -0.20 or -0.89% at $ 22.42 as on Feb 3, 17:39 NY Time
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin: −20.40 (0.06%) at $ 36,910.00 as on Feb 3, 10:40 PM UTC
Ethereum: −24.88 (0.93%) at $ 2,657.50 as on Feb 3, 10:39 PM UTC
(Written and edited by: The Decision Maker)
