Wall Street slips as ad tech, social media stocks weigh

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), in New York, U.S., July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

July 22 (Reuters) – U.S. stock indexes fell on Friday after disappointing quarterly earnings from Twitter and Snap led social media and ad tech firms to decline, while American Express pared gains following a positive outlook.

Shares of Snap Inc. fell nearly 40% in mid-afternoon after the Snapchat owner missed revenue targets and declined to make a forecast on Thursday, Twitter Inc. (TWTR.N) fell 1.2% after an unexpected drop in revenues. read more

The social media sector is expected to post the slowest global revenue growth in the second quarter since the crisis in 2021. read more

Online advertising giants Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) The Nasdaq lost 7.5% and 5.6%, respectively. (.IXIC).

Meta and Alphabet are set to release earnings next week, along with their mega-cap peers, including Apple Inc. (AAPL.O)Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).

S&P 500 communications services sector (.SPLRCL) It decreased by 4.4% and caused declines in sectors.

“This could be interpreted as a warning signal that yields are under pressure as the economic environment slows,” said Lindsey Bell, chief currency and markets strategist at Ally Invest in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Investors are focusing on the Federal Reserve meeting and next week’s US gross domestic product data for the second quarter. While the US central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points to curb runaway inflation, GDP data is likely to turn negative again. read more

Meanwhile, a survey on Friday showed that U.S. business activity fell in July for the first time in nearly two years, deepening concerns about an economy weakened by high inflation, rising interest rates and declining consumer confidence. read more

Red Inflation Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) cut its annual adjusted earnings forecast, sending its shares down 7.4%. American Express Co (AXP.N) It increased by 2.6%. read more

Again, the S&P 500 (.SPX) and the Dow (.DJI) growth stocks were poised to end the week with their biggest gains in nearly a month after markets cheered quarterly reports from Tesla Inc and Netflix Inc. (NFLX.O).

At 12:06 a.m. ET, the Dow was down 72.07 points, or 0.22%, at 31,964.83, the S&P 500 was down 29.70 points, or 0.74%, at 3,969.25, the Nasdaq Composite was down 1919.18, It decreased by 2% or 191918.1%. .

“The US economy is relatively strong compared to expectations…earnings will likely be a positive catalyst as companies perform better than investors fear,” said Jay Hatfield, chief executive and portfolio manager at InfraCap in New York.

Analysts now expect the S&P 500’s annual profit to rise 6.2% for the second quarter, up from a 6.8% estimate at the start of the three-month period, according to Refinitiv data.

On the NYSE, advancers outnumbered decliners by a 1.12-to-1 ratio, and on the Nasdaq, decliners outnumbered advancers by a 1.94-to-1 ratio.

The S&P index hit one new 52-week high and 31 new lows, while the Nasdaq hit 23 new highs and 51 new lows.

Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Aniruddha Ghosh in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar; Edited by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Sriraj Kalluvila and Shounak Dasgupta

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