U.S. Stocks Mixed as Big Tech Outlooks Spark Growth Fears

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were mixed as earnings from big tech disappointed investors.

At 10:19 ET (14:19 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 167 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 1.1%.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported the slowest revenue growth in five years and disappointed on its sales outlook, while Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) disappointed on ad sales amid a broader decline for the digital advertising business. But the two stocks weighed on the tech sector, falling 6.9% and 7.3%, respectively.

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), which also depends on digital advertising for revenue, is due to report after the closing bell. Its stock was down 3.4%. This week also includes earnings reports from Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL).

Elsewhere in tech, shares of Spotify Technology SA (NYSE:SPOT) fell 8% after it also reported a slowdown in ad growth that weighed on its margin.

Stocks had gained in recent days on hopes the Federal Reserve will start to ease back on its interest rate increases after its meeting next week, when it is widely expected to raise its benchmark rate another 0.75 percentage point. The Fed could decide to raise by a lower amount at its December meeting and thereafter based on data that show the economy is cooling off. 

But that’s not a done deal. On Thursday, investors will get a first reading of third quarter gross domestic product, and on Friday data on consumer spending and inflation will come out.

In other data, new home sales for September were 603,000 annualized, higher than expectation but lower than the prior month as higher mortgage rates cool down the housing market.

Oil rose. Crude Oil WTI Futures was up 1.7% to $86.78 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude rose 1.1% to $92.83 a barrel. Gold Futures rose 0.9% to $1672.