Facebook Gets New Friends on Wall Street After 3Q Beat

Close but no cigar. The Dow kicked off the day inching closer to that 18,000 level, but closed lower by 50 points at 17,867. The S&P shed 7 points and the Nasdaq lost 2 points.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) got a lot of new friends after hours. The stock jumped as the social network beat on both the top and bottom line. Another key metric, the number of monthly active users, rose 14% from a year ago. That means more than 1.5 billion people on this planet are checking into Facebook at least once a month -- 21% of everyone on Earth!

Whole Foods (NASDAQ:WFM), though, took a beating after hours. The organic grocery giant missed estimates on both profit and revenue. Whole Foods is cutting staff and prices as the competition including A&P and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) devote shelf space to specialty foods, cutting into Whole Foods' market share.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) touched a new lifetime high Wednesday of $633.64. The online retailing giant has been on quite a tear lately, surging 12% since it reported a surprise profit last month. Amazon stock has more than doubled this year.

The "Fantastic Four" sucker-punched profits of Twenty-First Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOX), the parent of FOX Business Network. The Hollywood flop along with strong dollar headwinds hurt revenue. Shares sank 5%.

The stock that really took a hit Wednesday? Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN). The daily deals site sank below $3 a share to close down 26% as investors reacted to a new CEO and weaker-than-expected guidance. Groupon has fallen 65% this year. Founder Eric Levkofsky kicked upstairs to the chairman position.