Stock market today: Tech stocks fall ahead of Apple and Amazon earnings

• Indexes fell for a second day on Thursday as a strong week for tech earnings showed mixed results.
• Shares of Meta and Microsoft fell after modest gains, while Amazon and Apple are set to report after market close.
• PCE inflation, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, fell to 2.1%, while jobless claims fell more than expected.

Indexes fell on Thursday, heading for a second day of declines as earnings from big technology companies so far failed to impress investors.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 200 points shortly after the opening bell.

The fall occurs in the background busy week to earn moneyAt the same time, several of the largest technology companies reported third-quarter results.

Microsoft and Meta reported earnings that beat estimates in after-hours trading Wednesday, but shares of both tech giants fell in line with future forecasts. Microsoft shares fell more than 4% after it shared expectations for slower growth in its cloud business, while Meta shares fell more than 2% after forecasting a “significant” increase in capital spending next year.

Earlier this week, Alphabet revenues Beat sparked even more enthusiasm among investors as CEO Sundar Pichai said the company’s investments in artificial intelligence were “paying off.”

Investors are bracing for gains from Apple and Amazon after the market closes today. They will pay especially close attention signs that artificial intelligence is driving Apple’s iPhone demandespecially after the company released the iOS 18.1 update earlier this week and they’re expecting strong beat from Amazon.

Meanwhile, the personal consumption expenditure index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, fell to an annualized 2.1% in September from 2.2% in August. That marked progress toward the Fed’s 2% inflation target, but the core index, which excludes food and energy prices, was higher than expected at 2.7%.

Jobless claims fell more than expected last week to 216,000, down 12,000 from the week before. Economists had expected applications to be 230,000.

Here’s where U.S. stocks stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. open on Thursday:

Here’s what else is happening:

In commodities, bonds and cryptocurrencies:

• Oil futures rose. West Texas Intermediate Oil rose almost 1% to $69.27 per barrel. Brent crude oilthe international benchmark rose 0.8% to $73.13 per barrel.
• Gold the price fell almost 1% to $2,776.80 an ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield rose two basis points to 4.292%.
• Bitcoin rose to $71,869.