4 hours Ago
NEW YORK — Drops in big technology companies including Microsoft and Facebook parent Meta Platforms led Wall Street lower Oct. 31. The S&P 500 fell 1.
9 percent Thursday, its worst day in eight weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.9 percent, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.
8 percent. While both Microsoft and Meta delivered better profits than forecast for the latest quarter, investors were expecting even more from them. Other influential "Big Tech" stocks also fell and were among the market's heaviest weights, including Nvidia, Amazon and Apple.
Treasury yields wavered in the bond market following some mixed reports on the economy. The tech tumble on the last day of October helped to wipe out the S&P 500's gain for the month. Still, Thursday wasn't a complete washout on Wall Street thanks in part to cruise ships and cigarettes.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holding steamed 7.2 percent higher after delivering a bigger profit than analysts expected and reporting strong demand from customers across its brands. Altria Group rose 8.
4 percent after it also beat forecasts. CEO Billy Gifford credited resilience for its Marlboro brand and announced a cost-cutting program. SAN FRANCISCO — Apple snapped out of a recent iPhone sales slump during its summertime quarter, an early sign its recent efforts to revive demand for its marquee product with an infusion of artificial intelligence are paying off.
Sales of the ubiquitous device totaled $46.2 billion for the July-September period, a 6 percent increase from the same time last year, according to the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter report released Oct. 31.
That improvement reversed two consecutive year-over-year declines in the iPhone’s quarterly sales and helped Apple to deliver total revenue and profit that exceeded the analyst projections, excluding a one-time charge of $10.2 billion to cover back taxes in Europe. Apple's stock still dipped in extended trading.
WASHINGTON — As a presidential race profoundly shaped by Americans’ frustration with high prices nears its end, the government said Oct. 31 that an inflation gauge closely watched by the Federal Reserve has dropped to near pre-pandemic levels. Prices rose just 2.
1 percent in September from a year earlier, down from a 2.3 percent rise in August. That is barely above the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target and in line with readings in 2018, well before prices began surging after the pandemic recession.
Yet some signs of inflation pressures remained. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices rose 2.7 percent in September from a year earlier for the third straight month.
MILAN — Troubled carmaker Stellantis on Oct. 31 reported a 27 percent plunge in sales during the third quarter as gaps in launching new product s and action to reduce inventories slashed global shipments of new vehicles by 20 percent. The world's fourth-largest carmaker, created by the 2021 merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, reported revenue of nearly $36 billion in the three-month period ending Sept.
30. All regions except South America reported double-digit dips in revenues, led by North America, which plunged 42 percent. Europe revenues dropped 12 percent.
Shipments dropped by 20 percent to 1.2 million vehicles in the third quarter. In the first nine months, shipments sank 13 percent to 4 million.
NEW YORK — Delivery service DoorDash said this week it's partnering with Lyft to bring ride-sharing benefits to its members. The Oct. 30 announcement came as DoorDash released better-than-expected results for its third quarter.
The San Francisco company said its revenue rose 25 percent in the July-September period to $2.7 billion. DoorDash said its DashPass members will get discounted rides through Lyft, while Lyft riders will a get a free DashPass trial.
DashPass members pay $9.99 per month or $96 per year for free deliveries on most orders. The combination makes DoorDash a more potent competitor to Uber, which offers free Uber Eats delivery and discounted Uber rides to its Uber One members.
Uber's program also costs $9.99 per month or $96 per year. NEW YORK — An ex-FTX executive who testified against the cryptocurrency firm's founder last year was spared a prison sentence Oct.
30 by a judge who credited his substantial cooperation and late arrival in the multibillion dollar fraud. Nishad Singh, the company's former engineering director, was sentenced by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who said his cooperation was "remarkable.
" The judge noted that Singh didn't learn of the billions of dollars that were misappropriated until two months before the fraud unraveled. FTX was one of the world's most popular cryptocurrency exchanges before it collapsed into bankruptcy in November 2022. A month later, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas, where his companies were based, to face trial.
Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year sentence. Singh, 29, said he was "overwhelmed with remorse" for his role in the fraud. NEW YORK — Peloton has appointed its next CEO.
Peter Stern, co-founder of Apple Fitness+ and a current Ford executive, will soon helm of the tech-fitness company. Stern takes over as president and CEO on Jan. 1, Peloton said Oct.
31. Shares for the New York company climbed more than 20 percent Thursday. The announcement arrived nearly six months after Barry McCarthy stepped down as CEO.
His departure in May came alongside larger restructuring and cost-cutting efforts at the company, which included the layoffs of hundreds of employees. Sales of Peloton bikes soared during the early days of COVID-19, when many consumers turned to at-home workouts, but that all slowed as pandemic restrictions eased. As a result, the company has reported losses in more recent years.
Peloton also reported Thursday that it lost $900,000 during its first quarter on revenue of $586 million. Both were better than Wall Street had expected. In efforts to turn its business around, Peloton has been working on rebranding itself — shifting its identity as a seller of luxury exercise bikes and equipment to health technology for all.
The company recently unveiled plans to sell its deluxe stationary bike at a discount at Costco this holiday season. WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs remained at historically healthy levels despite elevated interest rates. The Labor Department reported Oct.
31 that first-time claim applications fell by 12,000 to 216,000 for the week of Oct. 26. That's fewer than the 227,000 analysts forecast.
The four-week average of weekly jobless claims, which quiets some of the week-to-week fluctuations, fell by 2,250 to 236,500. The total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits declined by 26,000 to 1.86 million for the week of Oct.
19. Last week's figure, which had been the most in three years, was revised down by 12,000..
