- Wall Street experienced buyer fatigue following a strong equity rally, with investors scouring earnings reports for clues on the outlook for corporate America amid mounting fears of a recession.
- In late trading, a $151 billion exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq 100 (qqq) rose after Microsoft reported earnings that exceeded analyst expectations. Texas Instruments one of the world's largest chipmakers, reported its first sales decline since 2020 and issued a cautious outlook for the current quarter, citing an industry slump.
- A few other bellwethers reported their results in the run-up to the tech earnings season. The Dow Jones Transportation Average fell on disappointing results from Union Pacific, the maker of post-it notes, forecast profit that fell short of expectations and announced job cuts. D.r. Horton outperformed expectations.
- A mix of mixed earnings and economic data is making investors wary of taking on more risk, especially after an equity rally that saw the S&P 500 rise more than 10% from its mid-October low. Us business activity fell for the seventh month in a row, albeit at a slower pace, while a measure of input prices rose, indicating persistent inflationary pressures.
