Wall St rises as Meta, Tesla offset Microsoft slump

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Wall St rises as Meta, Tesla offset

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slump

Wall Street’s main indexes have risen, driven by post-earnings advances in Meta and Tesla, although

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’s weak cloud forecast and downbeat results from Cigna dampened investor enthusiasm.

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dropped 4.7 per cent after forecasting disappointing growth in its cloud computing business.

Meta Platforms rose 4.5 per cent after beating estimates for fourth-quarter revenue, but forecast that first-quarter sales might miss estimates.

Tesla gained 0.5 per cent after saying it was on track to roll out new, cheaper EV models in the first half of 2025. It also said it would start testing a paid autonomous car service in June, overshadowing quarterly results that fell short of expectations.

“We had a number of results yesterday, which showed that grand ambitions are still rewarded,” said Frédérique Carrier, head of investment strategy for RBC Wealth Management.

“We saw that with the difference in performance between Tesla and Meta, which both have grand ambitions, compared to the market reaction to

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earnings.”

In early trading on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 102.06 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 44,815.58, the S&P 500 gained 28.19 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 6,067.50, and the Nasdaq Composite added 74.76 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 19,707.08.

Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors traded higher, with communication services leading broader market gains with a 2.1 per cent rise, on a boost from Meta. Technology stocks were down 0.5 per cent.

The Russell 2000 index advanced 1.3 per cent.

Health insurer Cigna slid 9.7 per cent after it forecast annual profit below expectations and missed fourth-quarter estimates, while United Parcel Service lost 14.8 per cent after forecasting 2025 revenue below expectations.

Lam Research rose 5.2 per cent after the chip-making equipment supplier forecast third-quarter revenue above expectations, driven by a surge in orders from chip firms amid the AI *****.

Chip-related companies Broadcom and Marvell Technology jumped 5.8 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively. A gauge of semiconductor stocks advanced 1.4 per cent.

Apple and Intel are scheduled to report results after markets close.

The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, removing language acknowledging easing inflation from its latest policy meeting statement. Chair Jerome Powell said there would be no rush to cut rates again until inflation and job numbers made it appropriate.

Meanwhile, data showed US economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter, while a jobless claims report for the previous week showed claims fell more than expected.

Markets were rocked earlier this week by the meteoric rise of ******** startup DeepSeek’s AI models, which posed stiff competition to leading US artificial-intelligence model providers and sparked worries of a price war.

Among other movers, IBM jumped 12.9 per cent after the company surpassed fourth-quarter profit expectations. ServiceNow lost 11.8 per cent after the software firm forecast annual subscription revenue below Wall Street estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 5.09-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 2.58-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 33 new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 67 new highs and 48 new lows.

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#Wall #rises #Meta #Tesla #offset #

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#slump

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