Wall St set to drop as Meta, Microsoft cost warnings highlight AI trade risks
Meta Platforms, Microsoft drag megacaps lower
Uber, Estee Lauder fall after results
September PCE data in-line with estimates
VIX rises to over three-week high
Futures down: Dow 0.52%, S&P 500 0.64%, Nasdaq 0.67%
Updated at 8:51 a.m. ET
By Lisa Pauline Mattackal
Oct 31 (Reuters) -Wall Street was set to open lower on Thursday as warnings from Meta Platforms and Microsoft about rising AI costs sobered some of the buzz around megacap stocks, which have been the market's primary driver this year.
Shares of Facebook-owner Meta META.O dipped 1.4% and Microsoft MSFT.O fell 3.5% in premarket trading, despite both companies beating earnings estimates in results reported after the bell on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, rose 0.2% in September, in-line with economists' expectation and supporting bets of a gradual easing of monetary policy by the U.S. central bank.
"Investors are pondering results from Microsoft and Meta more than the economic news," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.
"Still, the inflationnews could up the chances the Fed pauses next week. That could be on investors' mind and cause some more negativity in the medium term."
Data from the labor department showed the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment fell to a more than expected 216,000 claims last week as distortions from hurricanes faded. Monthly nonfarm payrolls data is due on Friday.
Meta warned of "significant acceleration" in AI infrastructure investments. Microsoft predicted slower growth in its Azure cloud business, signaling that the company's already hefty AI investments were not enough to keep pace with capacity constraints.
The other so-called Magnificent Seven stocks also slipped, with Nvidia NVDA.O losing 1.1% and Alphabet GOOGL.O down 0.3%, giving up some gains after soaring in the previous session following upbeat results.
Amazon.com AMZN.O lost 1.3% and Apple AAPL.O dipped 0.1% ahead of quarterly results from both, due after market close.
Although betting on AI-driven tech stocks propelled Wall Street to record highs this year, investor exuberance has meant stocks are trading at incredibly expensive valuations. Meta and Microsoft's warnings point to the challenges companies face in pleasing investors.
"The market is unforgiving of any AI-related company that fails to significantly outperform," said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
"Metais the latest stock to feel the wrath of investors, despite extending its track record of doing better than analyst forecasts on key financial measures."
S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 37.75 points, or 0.64%. Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 dropped 138.5 points, or 0.67% and Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 fell 220 points, or 0.52%
The VIX .VIX, Wall Street's "fear gauge", rose to a more than three-week high as investors brace for more volatility from corporate results, the upcoming U.S. presidential election and the central bank's November meeting in the next few weeks.
The benchmark index is set for its sixth straight month of gains in October, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC is set to rise over 2%, though the Dow .DJI is on track to decline slightly.
In results-driven moves, e-commercefirm eBay EBAY.O fell 5.7% following downbeat revenue forecasts, while trading platform Robinhood HOOD.O slumped 9.1% after its third-quarter earnings missed expectations.
Uber Technologies UBER.N shares dropped 8.2% after the companyforecast fourth-quarter gross bookings below expectations.
Estee Lauder plummeted 23.8% after the cosmetics company withdrew 2025 annual forecasts and cut its dividend.
Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far, 77.4% have beaten analysts expectations, about in line with the 79% average beat rate of the past four quarters as per LSEG data as of Wednesday.
Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai
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