Proactive Investors - Wall Street looked to be dragged lower by a slump in Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, ETR:FB2A, SWX:FB) shares overnight after the technology giant disappointed with guidance in Wednesday’s first quarter update.
Shares in the Facebook (NASDAQ:META) and Instagram owner were down 14% in pre-market trading after Meta said spending on artificial intelligence would be higher than expected for the year, while revenue would sit between $36.5-$39 billion, against consensus of $38.5 billion.
Futures had The Dow Jones falling 222 points on Thursday’s open following the news, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 looked to fall 167 and 31 points respectively.
“This highlights how pre-release performance and the company’s outlook are often more important than the numbers themselves,” Scope Markets analyst Joshua Mahony said on Meta’s earnings.
“All eyes turn towards Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) whose numbers are released after the close today,” he added.
Also on the cards for Thursday was US gross domestic product data, with markets expecting growth of 2.5% over the first quarter.