Wall Street drifts as SpaceX climbs and Netflix falls
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is drifting Wednesday as strong profit reports from SpaceX, Capital One Financial and other big companies work against updates from Netflix and AT&T that investors found disappointing.
The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged, coming off two straight modest gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 30 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% higher.
SpaceX helped lead the market and climbed 11.1% after reporting a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected. Elon Musk, who runs the company that makes money from artificial-intelligence technology, rockets and other businesses, also said that SpaceX took a step to consider a possible merger with Tesla, his electric-vehicle company.
Tesla, which will report its latest quarterly results late Wednesday, climbed 3.3% and was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.
Other stocks rallying on profit reports that topped analysts’ expectations included Capital One Financial, which rose 4.1%, and Winnebago Industries, which climbed 7.2%.
Expectations are high for profit growth during the summer, and companies will need to meet them to justify the big runs their stock prices have made toward records despite worries about high inflation, higher interest rates and other challenges weighing on Wall Street.
Winnebago was able to report a more resilient profit than analysts expected even as high fuel prices and frustration among U.S. shoppers restrain interest in recreational vehicles, for example. CEO Michael Happe said its more expensive towable RVs are a tougher sell, but customers are interested in its “more accessible” offerings.
On the losing side of Wall Street was Netflix, which fell 4.2% even though the streaming service reported a stronger profit than analysts expected. Investors focused instead on worries that Netflix’s momentum may be slowing. The company’s forecast for revenue growth in the final three months of the year fell short of analysts’ expectations.
AT&T fell 5.6% even though it likewise delivered a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It gave a forecast for growth this year in an underlying measure of earnings before income taxes and some other things that fell short of some analysts’ expectations.
Among AI stocks, which have been at the center of the market’s action in recent weeks, the movements remained unsettled.
After leading the rest of the market for years because of the frenzy around AI, stocks in the industry have become shaky on worries that the build out of data centers may slow because of how much more expensive it’s become to borrow money.
CoreWeave, which has borrowed money to buy AI chips that it rents out to customers over the cloud, has been particularly volatile. On Tuesday, it careened between a loss of 6% and a gain of 5%, for example. On Wednesday, it fell 2.1% after erasing an early gain of nearly 4%.
Other AI-linked stocks were more resilient. Nvidia's gain of 0.9% was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500.
Besides SpaceX’s profit report showing strength for AI spending, another encouraging signal for the industry came from Super Micro Computer, which sells AI servers and services. It said it expects to report stronger revenue for the summer than it had earlier forecast because of “increased demand for AI platforms,” and its stock rallied 11.4%.
Another potential boost for the AI industry came from an easing of Treasury yields in the bond market, which helps dictate how expensive loans are for the U.S. government, companies and regular Americans.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 5.09% from 5.12% late Tuesday, though it remains far above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran sent oil prices and worries about inflation higher.
Oil prices remained unsteady on Wednesday following big swings this month on uncertainty about when the energy industry can return to normal. The price for a barrel of Brent crude added 0.2% to $108.96 after swinging up and down through the morning. It’s been yo-yoing between $97 and $112 in October.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 3.3% for one of the world’s biggest moves as AI stocks regained strength.
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AP Business Writers Michelle Chapman and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
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