STOCK MARKET NEWS: 3Q GDP surprise, Meta shares plunge, Twitter-Musk countdown
The U.S. economy rebounded in the 3Q, the ECB's hikes interest rates and Facebook shares take a beating. FOX Business is providing real-time updates on the markets, commodities and all the most active stocks on the move.
Coverage for this event has ended.
The world's richest man, who is one day away from owning Twitter, is promising it won't be a "free-for-all hellscape."
| Symbol | Price | Change | %Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAT | $212.45 | 15.49 | 7.86 |
| BA | $140.21 | 6.42 | 4.80 |
| META | $97.98 | -31.84 | -24.52 |
| I:DJI | $32,036.18 | 197.07 | 0.62 |
| SP500 | $3,807.49 | -23.11 | -0.60 |
| I:COMP | $10,792.67 | -,178.32 | -1.63 |
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged helped by major industrials Caterpillar and Boeing, while a 24% drop in Facebook parent Meta infected the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500. In commodities, oil rose over 1% to $89.03 per barrel.
It has been a rough few days for the Facebook, now Meta, founder as his net worth takes a hit evaporating billions in wealth.
Supplies are tight for the fuel used to power commercial vehicles. A look at what's ahead for supplies.
U.S. stocks rose across the board as investors focused on a 2.6% rise in 3Q GDP, the first of three readings, as well as positive earnings from Caterpillar. Meta shares are the exception, falling over 24%, after a disappointing quarter. In commodities, crude rose 1.5% to the $89 per barrel level.
| Symbol | Price | Change | %Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| META | $129.82 | -7.69 | -5.59 |
| I:DJI | $32,281.26 | 442.15 | 1.39 |
Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover of Twitter is moving closer to the court-ordered Oct. 28 deadline.
Ahead of that, Twitter shares will be suspended from trading on Friday, according to the New York Stock Exchange's website.
Musk visited Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday and hinted he was the company's top boss after updating his profile bio to "Chief Twit".
The Tesla chief executive posted a video to his Twitter account on Wednesday showing him carrying a sink into the building with the caption "Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!"
During Musk's visit to Twitter headquarter, he reportedly told employees that he does not plan to cut 75% of staff, according to Bloomberg.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that equity investors, including Sequoia Capital, Binance, Qatar Investment Authority and others, had received the requisite paperwork for the financing commitment from Musk's lawyers.
Read more on the story here: Twitter shares to be suspended on NYSE ahead of Musk takeover
Stock Traders (Reuters)
U.S. equity futures traded higher ahead of a closely watched update on the economy.
The major futures indexes suggest a gain of 0.4% when the opening bell rings on Wall Street.
Oil prices were stable on Thursday despite fears over China demand.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded around $87.00 a barrel.
Brent crude futures traded around $95.00 a barrel.
Forecasters expect U.S. government data to show the economy grew in the three months ending in September after two quarters of contraction.
Other reports due will measure jobless claims and durable goods.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, or the difference between the day's market price and the payout at maturity, was at 4.06%
The European Central Bank is expected to raise its key interest rate to a 13-year high.
Shares of Facebook's parent company Meta were plunging 19% in premarket trading after the company reported a disappointing forecast.
The company expects fourth quarter 2022 total revenue to be in the range of $30-32.5 billion. Analysts on average expected revenue of $27.38 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
Third quarter revenue fell 4% to $27.7 billion
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 0.3%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 1.3% and China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2%.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index fell 0.7% to 3,830.60, breaking three days of gains after Microsoft and the parent companies of Google and Facebook reported weaker-than-expected profit or revenue.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 2% to 10,970.99. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended little changed, gaining 2.37 points to 31,839.11.
Shares of Facebook's parent company are plunging 19% in premarrket trading after the company reported a disappointing forecast.
The company expects fourth quarter 2022 total revenue to be in the range of $30-32.5 billion. Analysts on average expected revenue of $27.38 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
Third quarter revenue fell 4% to $27.7 billion.
The company said it is making significant changes across the board to operate more efficiently.
On a per-share basis, the company said it had net income for the three months ended September 30 was $1.64.
The results fell short of Wall Street expectations.
The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.88 per share.
Facebook and Meta logos (Reuters)
Employees work on the assembly line (Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The U.S. economy likely grew in the third quarter after back-to-back contractions. However, the sudden rebound may mean little to U.S. households and businesses still grappling with painfully high inflation and rapidly rising interest rates.
The Commerce Department is set to release the highly anticipated third-quarter gross domestic product reading Thursday morning, which is expected to show that economic growth increased 2.1% in the period from July to September.
But the anticipated turnaround doesn't actually reflect improvements in the economy, which is still besieged by inflation running near a 40-year high and likely headed toward a recession next year, economists say.
Gas Prices (AAA)
The average price of a gallon of gasoline slipped on Wednesday to $3.760, according to AAA, continuing a recent trend.
The price on Wednesday was $3.764. One week ago, a gallon of gasoline cost $3.836.
Gas hit a high of $5.016 on June 14. Diesel's price slipped to $5.309 per gallon.
Oil rig at sunrise (AP)
Oil prices held steady on Thursday despite fears over China demand.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded around $87.00 a barrel.
Brent crude futures traded around $95.00 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories rose 2.6 million barrels last week, according to weekly government data on Wednesday, with crude exports rising to 5.1 million barrels a day.
The World Bank on Wednesday said it expects energy prices to decline by 11% in 2023 after this year's 60% surge following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But, slower global growth and COVID restrictions in China could lead to a deeper fall.
The slide in oil prices comes despite the dollar's weakness which makes greenback-denominated crude less expensive.
The dollar stood close to a more than one-month low against a basket of currencies on Thursday.
Bitcoin was trading around $20,000, after gaining in five of the last six days.
For the week, Bitcoin has gained more than 8%.
For the month, the cryptocurrency has gained more than 6%, but is down more than 55% year-to-date.
Ethereum was trading around $1,500, after gaining more than 22% in the past week.
Dogecoin was trading at 7 cents, after gaining more than 24% in the past week.
A German energy company is dismantling a wind farm to allow for an adjacent coal mine to expand its operations, officials said.
The German coal mine Garzweiler, operated by energy company RWE, admits the situation appears to be "paradoxical" — sacrificing one energy source for another — but defended the decision as necessary to strengthen supplies amid the ongoing energy crisis, Oilprice.com reported.
"We realize this comes across as paradoxical," RWE spokesperson Guido Steffen said in a statement. "But that is as matters stand."
One of the wind farm’s eight wind turbines was dismantled last week and two others are expected to be taken down next year. The remaining five turbines will be dismantled by the end of 2023, said a spokesperson for the company that builds and runs the wind farm.
RWE’s decision to expand into the Keyenberg wind farm, which is located in North Rhine-Westphalia, has drawn the ire of climate activists.
The expansion comes in tandem with a plan to temporarily return three of RWE’s lignite-fired coal units to the market, a decision that was approved by Germany’s cabinet. The units were previously on standby.
Find more details on the story by clicking here: Coal mine demolishes neighboring wind farm to boost country's energy supply, drawing ire of climate activists
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