United States stock futures edged lower on Wednesday night (Thursday AEDT) as investors digested a raft of major technology earnings and the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision.
By 9:30 am AEDT (10:30 pm GMT), Dow futures were down 0.2%, S&P 500 futures slipped 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures eased 0.2%.
In extended trading, results from several of Wall Street’s biggest technology firms put the spotlight back on the artificial intelligence trade.
Alphabet surged 6.2% after the company reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter results. The company reported earnings per share (EPS) at $2.87, beating market expectations of $2.26. Revenue came in at $102.35 billion, ahead of the $99.94 billion expected.
Gains were driven by robust growth in Google Cloud and YouTube advertising.
Meta Platforms dropped 7.7% as the company posted EPS of $1.05 on revenue of $51.24 billion, versus expectations of $6.72 per share on $49.51 billion in revenue.
Meta said it incurred a nearly $16 billion one-time charge related to U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and warned that capital expenditure will rise in 2026.
Microsoft slipped 3.6% despite beating expectations for its fiscal first quarter. Adjusted earnings came in at $4.13 per share on revenue of $77.67 billion, exceeding forecasts for $3.67 per share and $75.38 billion, respectively.
Its Azure cloud business saw revenue jump 40%.
MGM Resorts fell 3.4% after third-quarter earnings missed forecasts due to lower Las Vegas visitation. The company reported EPS of $0.24 on $4.25 billion in revenue, compared with expectations for $0.38 on $4.24 billion.
eBay shed 8.4% following a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter forecast, even as third-quarter results topped estimates.
Excluding items, eBay earned $1.36 per share on $2.82 billion in revenue, compared with consensus forecasts for $1.33 per share on $2.73 billion.
Starbucks slipped 0.5% after the coffee chain reported earnings below expectations. Starbucks earned 52 cents per share, excluding items, on $9.57 billion in revenue. While revenue topped forecasts of $9.35 billion, profit fell short of the 56 cents estimate.
Same-store sales grew for the first time in nearly two years, supported by international growth.
Chipotle plunged 15.3% after it cut its same-store sales outlook for the third consecutive quarter, citing weaker restaurant traffic. It now expects 2025 same-store sales to decline by a low single-digit percentage.
The earnings deluge followed a mixed trading session in the U.S., where the Dow fell 0.2%, the S&P 500 finished flat, and the Nasdaq rose 0.6%.
The Dow was dragged lower after Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that further rate cuts this year were not guaranteed.
“A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion. Far from it,” Powell said following the Fed’s two-day meeting, where policymakers voted to lower the benchmark rate by a quarter point to a range of 3.75%-4%.
Market attention now turns to President Donald Trump’s high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
