Between disappointments and surprises: economic reports from Apple, Google and Meta

The tech sector had a strong impact on the Nasdaq on Thursday after better-than-expected results Targetparent company of Facebook, awaiting results alphabet, Mansana And Amazon after closing. The Nasdaq jumped 3.25% to 12,200.82, the S&P 500 gained 1.47% to 4,179.76 and the Dow Jones shed 0.11% to 34,053.94.

The powerhouse of the day was Meta, which jumped 23.28% to $188.77 after lower but better-than-expected results at the close on Wednesday.

Before and after closing

Investors also positioned themselves in the tech giants, looking for results after the close. Amazon gained 7.38% to $112.91 before shedding more than 6% after trading ended.

The company announced a turnover of $149.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, which is above its forecasts and market expectations in the context of inflation that affects consumers.

However, the US online trading giant made cautious forecasts for the current quarter, and its shares fell after the close. Meanwhile, Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, which surged 7.27% to $108.80 a share, disappointed the market on Thursday with a slight drop in revenue to $76 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Its earnings also came in lower than analysts had expected at $13.6 billion, compared with $20.6 billion for the same period in 2021, according to a statement released after the Wall Street shutdown. Its shares also fell after the close.

Finally, Apple released data on a drop in quarterly revenue and net income in the last quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, which is lower than what the market also expected, due to falling iPhone sales. Revenue for the period under review was $117,100 million, down 5.4% from the same quarter last year, the company said.

The results of the American giant were affected by a drop in iPhone sales by more than 8% in a quarterly comparison. Thus, the company’s net profit for the quarter reached $29.9 billion, which is 13% less than a year ago. For its part, giant Ford lost 7.67% after the close with a 3.99% gain on stagnant profits in 2022.

For Starbucks, the results were also less than expected due to falling sales in China. Its shares, which closed down 0.76% to $109.15, lost another 3.53% in after-hours electronic trading.

The business outlook is “worsening for companies,” summed up Cresset Capital’s Jack Eblin speaking to AFP, who stressed that “investment, demand for PCs and chips are falling” due to the published results and forecasts.

According to AFP