Oct. 27 (UPI) — The three major U.S. stock market indexes posted mixed results Thursday amid stronger-than-expected economic reports and disappointing earnings in the tech sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial average closed up 194.17 points, or 0.61%, to 32,033.28 after climbing more than 500 points during the day. The S&P 500 fell 23.3 points, or 0.61%, to 3,807.3, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 178.32 points, or 1.63%, to 10,792.68.
The Dow reacted to positive news, including the quarterly gross domestic product rising 2.6%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, beating analysts estimates for a 2.3% rise in GDP during the July-September period.
“The GDP release this morning was a goldilocks number for risk assets, Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth said, according to CNBC. “This is another sign pointing to the likelihood that the worst of inflation may be behind us.”
A slower-than-expected rise in weekly jobless rates also reassured investors. The Department of Labor reported a total of 217,000 initial unemployment claims for the week ending Saturday, up 3,000 from the prior week,but below the 220,000 economists had predicted.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq sank after disappointing earnings reports, including from Facebook parent, Meta. Shares of the company fell about 25% Thursday to the lowest level since 2016. Meta reported third-quarter earnings fell 52% to $4.4 billion on revenue of $27.7 billion.
Shares of Amazon also plunged after the company reported a 9% drop in net income compared to a year ago — $2.9 billion, or $0.28 per share, on revenue of $127.1 billion.
Thursday’s mixed results come after a multiday winning streak was interrupted Wednesday, when the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted losses of 0.74% and 2.04% respectively and the Dow finished about even.
On the global economic stage, the European Central Bank announced its third interest rate increase of the year, boosting rates by 75 basis points in an effort to fight inflation, which reached 9.9% in the eurozone in September, up from 9.1% in August.
Inflation in the United States was 8.2% in September, down from 8.3% in August. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to approve another 75-basis-point rate hike at its meeting Wednesday in an ongoing effort to bring inflation down to the target 2%.
Mortgage rates climbed above 7% for the first time since 2002, with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.08% in the week ending Thursday, up from 6.94% the previous year and 3.14% a year ago.
Oil prices ended Thursday higher, with benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude rising 0.78% to $88.60, and Brent Crude at $95.04, up from $94.15.
British multinational energy company Shell reported $9.5 billion in third-quarter earnings, more than double profits for the same period a year ago. Shares of the company closed up 5.16% on Thursday.
