US open: Stocks reverse yesterday's gains at the bell

Wall Street stocks were in the red early on Thursday as market participants thumbed over another round of corporate earnings and a number of fresh data points.

As of 1555 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.64% at 35,400.85, while the S&P 500 was 1.17% weaker at 4,535.66 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.97% softer at 14,133.00.

The Dow opened 228.48 lower on Thursday, erasing gains recorded in the previous session.

Market participants were looking over Facebook parent company Meta's quarterly update from overnight early on Thursday, with the results revealing that quarterly profits fell short of expectations as it also issued weaker-than-expected revenue guidance for the current quarter.

Spotify shares were also in the red after the streaming giant revealed a slowdown in premium subscriber growth overnight.

In terms of Thursday's earnings, Estee Lauder raised full-year forecasts thanks to heightened demand for skincare and make-up, while Carlyle Group's fourth-quarter earnings jumped almost 400% on the back of record asset sales during the period.

Eli Lilly was in the green after its quarterly earnings beat expectations on the back of more than $1.0bn in Covid-19 antibodies revenue, while Biogen stock was trading lower after issuing some disappointing guidance with its latest earnings.

Merck also provided guidance that was short of estimates and Ralph Lauren smashed earnings and revenue estimates and raised its full-year outlook.

Still to come, Ford will report shortly, while Activision Blizzard, Amazon, News Corp, Pinterest, Snap and GoPro will all update on recent trading after the close.

On the macro front, new first-time jobless claims fell by 23,000 to 238,000 in the week ended 29 January, according to the Labor Department, for the lowest reading in three weeks and below economists' expectations for a print of 245,000. Continuing claims fell by 44,000 to 1.628m in the week ended 22 January. However, the four-week moving average, which strips out week-to-week volatility came in at 255,000, its highest reading since mid-November 2021.

Also in data news, job cuts were increased slightly to 19,064 in January but were still 76% lower than the same month in 2021, according to Challenger, Gray and Christmas, as micron likely weighed on numbers last month.

Elsewhere, a final reading of IHS Markit's composite PMI was revised slightly higher to 51.1 in January from a preliminary reading of 50.8, while the services PMI rose to 51.2 from the flash estimate of 50.9.

Elsewhere, factory orders fell 0.4% in December, according to the Commerce Department, and the Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing PMI fell 1.2 percentage points in January to 57.6%, indicating expansion in the overall economy for the 20th month in a row after a contraction in April and May 2020.

Finally, unit labour costs in the US undershot economists' forecasts by a wide margin at the end of 2021 as productivity growth surged. According to the Department of Labor, unit labour costs, increased at a quarterly annualised pace of 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Labour productivity, on the other hand, jumped at a 6.6% pace, well ahead of consensus estimates for a reading of 2.3%.

Also in focus, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note advanced slightly in early trading to sit at around 1.829%, and across the pond, the Bank of England announced a quarter-percentage-point interest rate increase, while the European Central Bank was pegged to hold steady with its benchmark rate despite Eurozone inflation hitting a new record.

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $487.70 1.65%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $150.80 0.57%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $54.01 0.40%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $61.88 0.35%
American Express Co. (AXP) $184.79 0.34%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $173.26 0.31%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $363.80 0.20%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $162.92 0.20%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $61.28 0.16%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $175.87 0.02%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $216.43 -3.82%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $80.19 -2.21%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $140.58 -1.43%
Visa Inc. (V) $232.19 -1.37%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $133.70 -1.26%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $310.05 -1.09%
Boeing Co. (BA) $205.32 -1.06%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $226.59 -1.02%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $203.13 -0.88%
3M Co. (MMM) $165.28 -0.83%

S&P 500 - Risers

Dxc Technology Company (DXC) $34.54 12.54%
Humana Inc. (HUM) $427.42 6.53%
Ralph Lauren Corp (RL) $119.16 4.83%
Becton, Dickinson & Company (BDX) $268.35 4.55%
W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) $522.99 4.36%
McKesson Corp. (MCK) $268.74 3.98%
Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) $244.30 3.53%
Hershey Foods Corp. (HSY) $204.65 3.08%
Discovery Inc. Class C (DISCK) $28.20 2.84%
Discovery Inc. Class A (DISCA) $28.47 2.82%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Meta Platforms Inc. (FB) $246.15 -23.79%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $2,826.76 -6.16%
Qorvo, Inc. (QRVO) $135.20 -5.82%
Twitter Inc (TWTR) $34.47 -5.59%
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) $9.98 -5.04%
Fortive Corporation (FTV) $68.11 -4.89%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $126.37 -4.68%
Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) $68.70 -4.26%
Abiomed Inc. (ABMD) $294.99 -4.21%
Estee Lauder Co. Inc. (EL) $306.24 -4.05%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $120.23 9.72%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $128.74 4.10%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $18.19 1.76%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $28.20 1.44%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $28.15 1.39%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $917.44 1.30%
Hologic Inc. (HOLX) $73.09 1.29%
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $2,466.31 1.04%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $138.46 0.94%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $605.88 0.94%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Meta Platforms Inc. (FB) $246.15 -23.79%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $2,826.76 -6.16%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,030.08 -4.85%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $126.37 -4.68%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $661.90 -3.62%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $143.54 -3.32%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $489.36 -3.22%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $218.31 -2.96%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $546.70 -2.77%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $183.15 -2.68%