Market Snapshot: Nasdaq slides nearly 1% as Google, Facebook, Intel’s stocks fall but Dow clings to small gain

How are stock-index futures trading?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.33%
gained 62 points, or 0.2%, to 35,662, after setting a record intraday high at 35,765.02.

The S&P 500
SPX,
-0.01%
index shed 10 points, or 0.2%, to reach 4,539, after carving out its all-time intraday peak at 4,555.05.

The Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
-0.71%
was down 150 points, or 1%, at 15,065.

The large-cap Nasdaq-100 index was down 1% at 15,335, off 154 points.

On Thursday, the Dow fell 6 points, or 0.02%, to 35,603, the S&P 500 increased 14 points, or 0.3%, to a record 4,549.78, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 94 points, or 0.62%, to 15216.

For the week, the Dow was up 1%, the S&P 500 was up 1.2%, the Nasdaq Composite was aiming for weekly gain of 1.9%, while the Nasdaq-100 was on track for a 1.3% gain, despite the day’s decline.

What’s driving the market?

The U.S. equity market on Friday was facing pressure from selling in large-capitalization technology stocks, which was weighing on the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the broad-market S&P 500.

Quarterly results from Snapchat parent Snap Inc.
SNAP,
-25.91%
late Thursday, which forecast a weaker-than-expected holiday season, prompted a decline in Internet and social-media related stocks, including Google-parent Alphabet
GOOGL,
-3.24%
and Facebook Inc.
FB,
-5.79%.

Earlier in the session, the S&P 500 and Dow traded in record territory but gains were already evaporating as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the U.S. labor market might reach “maximum employment” next year, possibly paving the way for interest rate hikes.

Those comments, made during a speech for the Bank for International Settlements, come as the Fed sees a serious risk of inflation expectations moving persistently higher, with other central bankers saying that it would use its tools to bring inflation in line with the annual 2% target hoped for by policy makers.

Powell’s remarks come ahead of a media blackout period for Fed officials until its next rate-setting meeting, which is scheduled for Nov. 2-3.

Still, bullishness on Wall Street has appeared to be durable after the S&P 500 on Thursday logged its first record closing high since Sept. 2., with the Dow set to mark its first record finish since Aug. 16 if gains hold through to Friday’s close.

A largely upbeat earnings reporting season has pushed the indexes up this week, though worries over inflation, the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, and troubles for China’s economy remain a nag. So far for the third quarter earnings season, 84% of companies are reporting EPS above estimates, according to Refinitiv. Profits are on pace in the quarter to increase 33.7%, according to Refinitiv.

Opinion: Snap points to possibility of Apple causing the long-feared ‘ad-mageddon’

“Apple’s new privacy policy is likely to act as a headwind for not just Snap but for the broader sector, the extent of which will be laid bare next week when some of the other social media behemoths such as Facebook release their quarterly results,” said Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, in a note to clients.

“Expectations are that Facebook could face similar issues with the potential for a revenue hit of its own,” she said, adding that a more-than-20% drop in Snap shares after those results have led to a 60% retracement of year-to-date gains.

Elsewhere in the tech sector, Intel
INTC,
-11.68%
shares fell 9% in premarket trading, after the chip maker’s revenue and data-center sales just missed expectations, while it also forecast a lower-than-expected earnings and gross margins forecast.

Read: Facebook struggles to figure out how many users it actually has

Another factor that may be offering some relief to bulls is news on indebted property developer China Evergrande
6666,
+1.70%,
with a government newspaper reporting that the troubled property developer made an overdue $83.5 million payment to foreign bondholders.

In politics, President Joe Biden said at CNN town hall meeting Thursday evening that he probably doesn’t have the votes to boost corporate taxes. He also said he may alter or eliminate the filibuster to protect voting rights, and would consider using the National Guard to unclog the supply chains.

In economic reports, IHS Markit’s survey of senior business executives in service-oriented companies rebounded to a three-month high of 58.2 from 54.9 in September. A similar survey of manufacturers slipped to 59.2 from 60.7. Any reading over 50 signals improving conditions.

Which companies are in focus?

Beyond Meat Inc. shares BYND slid 11% Friday, after the plant-based food company issued a revenue warning for the third quarter, citing a range of issues including the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC STX delivered better-than-expected earnings Friday morning and issued a forecast for the current period that exceeded analyst expectations at the midpoint.

23andMe Holding Co. ME said Friday it agreed to pay $400 million for Lemonaid Health Inc., the on-demand platform for accessing medical care and pharmacy services, in a bid to add telemedicine and prescription drug delivery services. Its stock was down over 3%.

Shares of Schlumberger Ltd. slumped 0.9% Friday, after the oil services company reported a third-quarter profit that matched expectations but revenue rose missed, but provided an upbeat outlook oil and gas demand.

Shares of Honeywell International Inc. HON slumped 3.4% in premarket trading Friday, after the aerospace and building materials company reported third-quarter profit that topped expectations but revenue that came up short, citing “tough challenges” in the supply chain. 

How are other assets faring?

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y pulled back 1.66%, off by 2 basis points. Yields and debt prices move in opposite directions.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, edged off 0.1%.

Oil futures rose, with the U.S. benchmark CL00 trading 1.4% higher at $82.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures
GC00,
+0.75%
rose $14.40, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,796.30 an ounce. For the week, gold was up 1.6% and notched a fourth weekly gain in five weeks.

The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP rose 0.7%, and rose 0.4% for the week, while London’s FTSE 100 UKX added 0.2%, but posted a weekly decline of 0.4%.

The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP ended 0.3% lower, but logged a weekly rise of 0.3%, while the Hang Seng Index HSI rose 0.4% in Hong Kong for a weekly advance of 3.2%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIKpicked up 0.3%, helping cut a weekly loss to 0.9%.