U.S. stocks are falling as earnings reports disappoint

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were falling on Thursday after disappointing earnings reports from Tesla and AT&T.

At 11:36 ET (15:36 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 94 points or 0.3%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.5%.

Stocks have wobbled this week amid mixed earnings. Shares of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) were down 8.6% after the electric vehicle maker reported lower than expected gross profit margin after several price cuts. CEO Elon Musk says Tesla is putting sales growth ahead of profit.

AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) shares were falling 8.9% after the telecommunications giant missed expectations for first quarter revenue. American Express (NYSE:AXP), the card company, also had mixed results.

The mixed earnings season so far is combining with mixed economic data on the health of the economy. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book on Wednesday showed lending slowed in March and April after the banking turmoil sparked by the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Lower lending activity has a cooling effect on economic activity.

Still, futures traders are betting that the slowdown wasn’t enough to convince the Fed to pause on its interest rate increases. Most expect the Fed to raise rates another quarter of a percentage point when it next meets in May.

Unemployment claims rose slightly last week, to 245,000, above expectations.

Among regional banks, shares of Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:ZION) and Truist Financial Corp (NYSE:TFC) were falling after quarterly profits disappointed.