A man walks past the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York on January 28, 2022.
Michael Nagel | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Here is the key news investors need to start their trading day:
1. Tech disappointment
Meta raised hopes with his refreshing talk of efficiency on Wednesday, but Facebook parent company ultimately primed markets for disappointment after Bell Thursday. Big tech companies Apple, alphabet And Amazon All reported gains and all were disappointed in some way, sending their stocks lower in out-of-hours trading. Apple posted its largest year-over-year quarterly revenue decline since Barack Obama’s presidency. Google parent Alphabet suffered from a drop in ad spend on YouTube. And Amazon offered gentle guidance as it capped its slowest year of growth as a public company. Stock futures were down ahead of Friday’s open, particularly on the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Read live market updates.
2. Wow!
People queue to attend a job fair at SoFi Stadium on September 9, 2021 in Inglewood, California.
Patrick T Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
The January job report came in much better than expected. Employers added 517,000 jobs last month, well above the slowdown economists were expecting — 187,000 new jobs versus 223,000 in December. The unemployment rate, at 3.4%, was also below estimates of 3.6%. Government bond yields jumped after the report was released. Stock futures tumbled, but they were already down Friday morning after Thursday’s flurry of rough tech earnings.
3. Blue oval blues
The Ford corporate logo is displayed on a sign outside of the Chicago assembly plant on February 03, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
Tech companies weren’t the only ones to have a hard time with earnings on Thursday. ford posted an uglier than expected fourth quarter that left it with a net loss for the year. The company blamed “execution issues” and supply chain issues for falling 100,000 units short of its expected sales, which translated into about $1 billion in lost revenue. Ford CEO Jim Farley vented his frustration to CNBC’s Phil LeBeau, saying he knew the company was under pressure to change things quickly. He also asked for a little mercy from investors: “Be patient. You know, we have the right team. We have the right plan. We’re growing like hell in our pro and EV business.”
4. China Covid surge weakens Starbucks sales
Alex Tai/SOPA Images | flare | Getty Images
Coronavirus cases rose sharply in China after the government eased its zero-Covid policy, which in turn put more pressure on businesses. Starbucks On Thursday, it said transactions at coffee shops in China, its second-largest market, fell nearly 30% year over year in the most recent quarter. Despite the weak results from China, the company maintained its guidance for the full year. And Starbucks also expects things to change in the country in the second half of its fiscal year after negative same-store sales growth continued in the fiscal second quarter.
5. Suspected Chinese spy balloon sighted
A high-altitude balloon hovers over Billings, Mont. on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023 due to risks of harm to people on the ground, officials said Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. The Pentagon would not confirm that the balloon in the photo the surveillance balloon was.
Larry Mayer | The Billings Gazette | AP
American officials said Thursday they were monitoring what they believed to be a Chinese spy balloon hovering over the northern part of the United States. China has sent spy balloons over the US before, but usually not for that long, officials told NBC News. The revelation about the balloon came days ahead of Foreign Minister Antony Blinken’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China, meanwhile, called for calm as it assessed the situation. US defense officials said the device’s intelligence-gathering ability was limited, and so far they have opted against shooting it down over fears debris could injure people and damage property on the ground.
– CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Patti Domm, Michael Wayland, Phil LeBeau, Amelia Lucas and Karen Gilchrist contributed to this report.
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