U.S. stocks end mixed following weak reports from Meta, Microsoft

Stocks ended mixed on Wall Street as weakness in several tech companies offset gains in other parts of the market.

Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms, lost another one-fourth of its value after reporting a second straight quarter of revenue decline amid falling advertising sales and stiff competition from TikTok.

That followed weak reports from Google‘s parent company, Alphabet, and Microsoft.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6% and the Dow rose 0.6%. Meta’s slump pulled the Nasdaq down 1.6%.

Markets got some encouraging economic news as the government reported the U.S. economy returned to growth last quarter, expanding 2.6%.

Treasury yields fell.

Construction equipment maker Caterpillar jumped 8.2% and contributed greatly to the index’s gains after it handily beat analysts’ third-quarter profit forecasts.

“What you’re seeing is a little bit of relief,” said Megan Horneman, chief investment officer at Verdence Capital Advisors. “Earnings are not great but they’re not awful either.”

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The benchmark S&P 500 is still holding on to weekly gains and remains solidly on track to end October in the green.

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Earnings have been the big focus for Wall Street this week, but markets got some encouraging economic news Thursday as the government reported the U.S. economy returned to growth last quarter, expanding 2.6%. That marks a turnaround after the economy contracted during the first half of the year.

The economy has been under pressure from stubbornly hot inflation and the Federal Reserve’s efforts to raise interest rates in order to cool prices. The central bank is trying to slow economic growth through rate increases, but the strategy risks going too far and brining on a recession.

The rising interest rates have made borrowing more difficult, particularly with mortgage rates. Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates topped 7% for the first time in more than two decades this week.

The latest economic data is being closely watched for any signs of a slowdown or that inflation might be easing as Wall Street tries to determine if and when the Fed might pull back on its interest rate increases.

The central bank is expected to raise interest rates another three-quarters of a percentage point at its upcoming meeting in November. But traders have grown more confident that it will dial down to a more modest increase of 0.50 percentage points in December, according to CME Group.

Central banks around the world have also been raising interest rates in an effort to tame inflation. The European Central Bank piled on another outsized interest rate hike on Thursday. Markets in Europe were mixed.

Wall Street has more earnings to review later Thursday. Internet retail giant Amazon and iPhone maker Apple report results after the market closes. Exxon Mobil will report its latest financial results on Friday.

Joe McDonald and Matt Ott contributed to this report.