Stock market today: Microsoft, Meta drag tech stocks lower on concerns over AI spending

• Stocks tumbled sharply connected Thursday, dragged down by tech.
• Microsoft and Meta banal dropped connected renewed concerns complete AI spending.
• Jobless claims fell much than expected while nan Fed's preferred ostentation gauge edged person to 2%.

US stocks fell sharply connected Thursday, pinch nan tech-heavy Nasdaq sliding almost 3% arsenic Meta and Microsoft faced steep losses.

The tech sell-off was sparked by nan latest net from mega-cap firms that mostly exceeded estimates but disappointed investors successful different areas and exacerbated concerns astir dense finance successful artificial intelligence.

The S&P 500 dropped almost 2% while nan Dow Jones Industrial Average mislaid much than 370 points.

Here's wherever US indexes stood astatine nan 4:00 p.m. closing doorbell connected Thursday:

• S&P 500: 5,705.37, down 1.86%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 41,763.19, down 0.9% (-378.35 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 18,095.15, down 2.76%

Much of nan disappointment came down to nan tech giants' guidance.

Microsoft said it expects nan existent quarter's gross to travel successful betwixt $68.1 cardinal and $69.1 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet had expected $69.89 billion. The institution attributed nan slowdown partially to its finance successful unreality computing capacity for AI demand.

Microsoft's banal fell 6% to adjacent astatine $406.35.

Meta, meanwhile, said it expects a ramp up successful superior expenditures successful nan adjacent twelvemonth arsenic it continues to walk connected AI, and raised its capex forecast for this twelvemonth to a scope of $38 cardinal to $40 billion, from $37 cardinal to $40 billion.

Analysts from UBS, though, stay affirmative that nan accrued walk will deliver.

"While Meta continues to awesome a important summation successful CapEx for 2025, nan results besides highlighted aggregate offsets to exemplify what nan investments will commencement to bring - arsenic we person been calling retired previously, nan easiest point to observe is nan absolute measurement up successful gross dollar maturation successful 2024 which stands astatine ~$28B presently and astir matching nan Pandemic-driven acceleration from 2021 of ~$29B," nan analysts wrote successful a Thursday note.

Meta's shares mislaid 4% to adjacent astatine %567.68.

Also connected Thursday, investors digested nan Federal Reserve's preferred ostentation gauge. The individual depletion expenditures scale cooled to 2.1% twelvemonth complete twelvemonth successful September from 2.2% successful August, but nan halfway index—which excludes volatile nutrient and power prices—came successful higher than forecasts astatine 2.7%.

Jobless claims, meanwhile, fell by much than expected to 216,000 past week, a autumn of 12,000 from nan week prior. Economists had expected 230,000 claims.

Here's what other is going on:

• 3 reasons why surging golden prices will climb different 8% by nan extremity of 2025, according to Goldman Sachs.
• AI hype is simply a bubble group to burst arsenic it follows nan way of tech manias passim history, legendary investor Jeremy Grantham says.
• Coinbase CEO says adjacent Congress will beryllium nan "most pro-crypto" ever and pledges different $25 cardinal successful governmental funding.
• Microstrategy is raising $42 billion — almost its full marketplace worth — to bargain much bitcoin.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• Oil futures were up. West Texas Intermediate crude roseate 2.8% to $70.53 a barrel. Brent crude, nan world benchmark, climbed 0.8% to $73.17 a barrel.
• Gold roseate slipped 1.6% to $2,756 an ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury was astir level astatine 4.278%.
• Bitcoin traded astir $70,000.