Wall Street Remains Flat, Microsoft Eyes Heaviest Drop Since Late 2022, Gold Sets Fresh Records: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

Wall Street is struggling to find risk-on momentum, with major indexes stuck near the flatline at midday as investors assess the latest earnings reports from mega-cap tech stocks and weaker-than-expected U.S. economic growth in the final quarter of 2024.

After Tuesday's rally — which followed a selloff triggered by DeepSeek’s impact earlier in the week — caution has taken hold, signaling the wounds from the downturn are still fresh.

Microsoft Corp. (NYSE:MSFT) is among the hardest-hit stocks, plunging more than 6%, which could mark its worst daily decline since October 2022.

Despite reporting overall stronger-than-expected earnings, Microsoft’s cloud segment, Azure, fell short of growth expectations, and the company slightly missed its revenue guidance for the ongoing quarter.

In contrast, Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) climbed 1.7% post-earnings, reaching new all-time highs.

Another major laggard was United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE:UPS), which plummeted 15%, potentially heading for its worst single-day drop since going public in 2002.

UPS Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes revealed during the earnings call the company reached an agreement in principle with Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) to significantly cut the volume of packages it handles for the e-commerce giant, aiming for a 50% reduction by the second half of 2026.

The U.S. dollar and bond yields remained stable following the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday to keep interest rates unchanged at 4.25%-4.5%.

Among commodities, precious metals stood out, with gold rising 1.4% to new all-time highs and silver climbing 2.4%.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) edged up 1% to around $105,000.

Thursday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) inched 0.2% higher to $603.10.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) edged up by 0.2% to $448.22.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) edged 0.1% lower to $521.30.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rose 1.2% to $228.50.
• The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) outperformed, up 1.7%; the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK), lagged down 0.4%.

Thursday’s Stock Movers

• Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 4.4% in reaction to quarterly earnings results.
• Other stocks reacting to earnings include:
  • ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE:NOW) down 12.6%
  • International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) up 12.3%
  • Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ:LRCX) up 7.96%
  • Raymond James Financial Inc. (NYSE:RJF) down 1.15%
  • Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE:AMP) down 3.08%
  • Waste Management Inc. (NYSE:WM) up 4.53%
  • Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) up 10.4%
  • Lazard Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) up 3.58%
  • Kirby Corp. (NYSE:KEX) up 7.22%
  • Flagstar Financial Inc. (NYSE:FLG) up 16.46%
  • Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) down 4.43%
  • Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC) down 2.04%
  • Dow Inc. (NYSE:DOW) down 6.09%
  • Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE:VLO) down 2.5%,
  • Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) down 8.46%,
• Major companies slated to report earnings after the close are Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC), KLA Corp. (NASDAQ:KLAC), PPG Industries Inc. (NYSE:PPG), ResMed Inc. (NYSE:RMD), Baker Hughes Co. (NASDAQ:BKR), Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NYSE:DECK) and LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA).

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