NEW YORK (AP) — The downside of high expectations thumped Wall Street on Thursday, and Microsoft and Meta Platforms dragged U.S. stock indexes lower despite delivering strong profits for the summer.
The S&P 500 sank 1.9% for its worst day in eight weeks and fell further from its record set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 378 points, or 0.9%, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.8% for a second straight loss after setting its latest all-time high.
Microsoft reported bigger profit growth for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue also topped forecasts, but its stock nevertheless sank 6% as investors and analysts scoured for possible disappointments. Many centered on Microsoft’s estimate for upcoming growth in its Azure cloud-computing business, which fell short of some analysts’ expectations.
The parent company of Facebook, meanwhile, likewise served up a better-than-expected profit report. As with Microsoft, that wasn’t enough to boost its stock. Investors focused instead on Meta Platforms’ warning that it expects a “significant acceleration” in spending next year as it continues to pour money into developing artificial intelligence. It fell 4.1%.
Both Microsoft and Meta Platforms have soared in recent years amid a frenzy around AI, and they’re entrenched among Wall Street’s most influential stocks. But such stellar performances have critics saying their stock prices have simply climbed too fast, leaving them too expensive. It’s difficult to meet everyone’s expectations when they’re so high, and Microsoft and Meta were both among Thursday’s heaviest weights on the S&P 500.
Amazon and Apple also helped drag the market lower, with Amazon falling 3.4% and Apple dropping 2% before they released their profit reports after trading ended for the day. They’re the latest companies in the highly influential group of stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” to do so.
Earlier this month, Tesla and Alphabet kicked off the Magnificent Seven’s reports with results that investors found impressive enough to reward with higher stock prices.
The lone remaining member, Nvidia, will report its results later this earnings season, and its 4.8% drop was Thursday’s heaviest weight on the market after Microsoft. Expectations are just as high for the chip company after its stock soared over 880% in the last two years.
The tumble for Big Tech on the last day of October wiped out the S&P 500’s gain for the month. The index fell 1% for its first down month in the last six, even though it set an all-time high during the middle of it.
Such a big move might have been overdue following an unusually long and placid run, according to Jonathan Krinsky at BTIG. He pointed to how the S&P 500 had failed to move by 1% in a day in either direction, without accounting for rounding, for the longest stretch in nearly three years.
Still, Thursday wasn’t a complete washout thanks in part to cruise ships and cigarettes.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holding steamed 6.3% higher after delivering stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The cruise ship operator said it was seeing strong demand from customers across its brands and itineraries, and it raised its profit forecast for the full year of 2024.
Altria Group rose 7.8% for another one of the S&P 500’s bigger gains after beating analysts’ profit expectations. Chief Executive Billy Gifford credited resilience for its Marlboro brand, among other things, and announced a cost-cutting initiative.
Oil-and-gas companies also rose after the price of a barrel of U.S. crude gained 0.9% to recoup some of its losses for the week and for the year so far. ConocoPhillips jumped 6.4%.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 108.22 points to 5,705.45. The Dow dropped 378.08 to 41,736.46, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 512.78 to 18,095.15.
In the bond market, Treasury yields edged lower following a mixed set of reports on the U.S. economy.
One report said a measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve likes to use slowed to 2.1% in September from 2.3%. That’s almost all the way back to the Fed’s 2% target, though underlying trends after ignoring food and energy costs were a touch hotter than economists expected.
A separate report said growth in workers’ wages and benefits slowed during the summer. That could put less pressure on upcoming inflation. A third report, meanwhile, said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. That’s an indication that the number of layoffs remains relatively low across the country.
Treasury yields swiveled up and down several times following the reports before moving lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.27% from 4.30% late Wednesday. That’s still up sharply from the roughly 3.60% level it was at in the middle of last month.
Yields have been rising following a string of stronger-than-expected reports on the U.S. economy. Such data bolster hopes that the economy can avoid a recession, particularly now that the Fed is cutting interest rates to support the job market instead of keeping them high to quash high inflation. But the surprising resilience is also forcing traders to downgrade their expectations for how deeply the Fed will ultimately cut rates.
In stock markets abroad, indexes sank across much of Europe and Asia.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.5% for one of the larger losses after North Korea test launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile designed to be able to hit the U.S. mainland in a move that was likely meant to grab America’s attention ahead of Election Day.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed
A sign marking the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway in New York's Financial District is shown on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
FILE - A person walks in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Tokyo, on Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
FILE - A person stands near an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm in Tokyo, on Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
Democrat Kamala Harris says recent comments by her opponent, Republican Donald Trump, are “offensive” and that it's clear he doesn't understand women.
She was responding to Trump, who said Wednesday that he will protect women, “whether the women like it or not.” The subtext of both Trump's and Harris' comments appears to be a 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned federal abortion rights. Trump appointed three of the justices to the court who formed the conservative majority.
Harris said Thursday that Trump's comments are “offensive” to women and “their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies.”
Meanwhile, Trump is traveling to New Mexico and Virginia in the campaign’s final days. It’s a risky detour from the seven battleground states to spend time in places where Republican presidential candidates haven’t won in decades.
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Here's the latest:
Thousands of women are expected to visit the grave of Susan B. Anthony after casting their ballots as a tribute to the suffragist who got arrested for doing the same.
With Kamala Harris on the presidential ballot, the crowds are expected to rival those seen in 2016 when another woman, Hillary Clinton, was the nominee. An estimated 10,000 people passed through Rochester, New York’s Mount Hope Cemetery that Election Day, making their way along a gravel footpath to cover Anthony’s headstone with “I Voted” stickers and flowers.
The cemetery says it is ready for what’s become an Election Day tradition. Protective plastic now covers Anthony’s headstone so the stickers won’t do damage and volunteers and extra security will be in place.
On Nov. 5, 1872, Anthony defied the law by casting a vote in the presidential election, leading to a charge of “knowingly voting without having a lawful right to vote.” She was found guilty at trial - but refused to pay the $100 fine. She died 14 years before ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the constitutional right to vote.
At a New Mexico rally, Trump tells his supporters that his advisors told him he didn’t need to come to New Mexico because he wouldn’t be able to win the state.
But he asked for rally goers in Albuquerque to turnout the vote for him in the border state.
“One of the reasons we will win this state is you have one of the worst border problems of any state, and I’m the only one who will fix it,” he said.
Donald Trump’s campaign is seizing on remarks from top Harris surrogate Mark Cuban, who said, “You never see” Trump “around strong, intelligent women — ever.”
The statement, made in an interview with “The View,” drew immediate rebuke from Republican women, including Trump’s campaign chief, Susie Wiles.
“I’m told @mcuban needs help identifying the strong and intelligent women surrounding Pres. Trump. Well, here we are!” she wrote in a rare media post. “I’ve been proud to lead this campaign,” she said, while also pointing to Linda McMahon, who is co-chairing Trump’s transition effort, and Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, co-chair of the RNC.
Campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt also went after Cuban.
“This is extremely insulting to the thousands of women who work for President Trump, and the tens of millions of women who are voting for him,” she said in a statement.
JD Vance told podcaster Joe Rogan he became “red-pilled on the whole vax thing” when he got sick after being vaccinated against COVID-19.
He said it was the sickest he’s been in the past 15 years, adding he contracted COVID-19 five times and likened those illnesses to a sinus infection.
Scientists say severe complications from the COVID vaccine are rare and outweighed by the benefits, which include more mild symptoms from a COVID infection. However, much of Trump’s base is distrustful of the vaccines.
The vaccine is credited with saving 20 million lives in its first year.
Mark Cuban has told supporters of Kamala Harris at a rally Thursday that Donald Trump used to be “a little bit coherent.”
“But I don’t know what happened to him,” said Cuban, an owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and celebrity investor on “Shark Tank.”
The rally Thursday was at Recreational Eagle Center, the main sports and recreation facility on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus. The school has about 9,400 undergraduates and about 930 graduate students. A large sign on one end of the arena reads, “A New Way Forward for La Crosse.”
Cuban warned the crowd that if Trump was elected in November, his tariffs proposal would make holiday gifts cost 60% more than they are now.
“You won’t be able to afford the presents you want for your family and friends,” he said. The choice, he said, is to elect Harris.
Sen. JD Vance told podcaster Joe Rogan on Thursday that Trump first broached the topic of the Ohio lawmaker being his running mate on the morning of the July 13 Pennsylvania rally where Trump was shot.
The former president then suggested that Vance accompany him to the Butler rally later that day where they would announce the vice presidential pick together on stage.
“He looks at one of his staff members and says, ’actually, wouldn’t it really set the world ablaze if we just made the decision today,” Vance told Rogan.
Trump ended up changing his mind and going to the campaign stop on his own.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Thursday that former President Donald Trump “damn near killed himself” when he got into a garbage truck before an event on Wednesday night.
Trump got into the truck before an event in Wisconsin to draw attention to President Joe Biden saying on Tuesday night “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
Biden was responding to a comedian at a Trump rally calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Biden later tried to clarify his statement, arguing he was referring to the comedian’s demonization of Latino voters.
“This dude is nearly 80 years old. He damn near killed himself getting into a garbage truck,” Walz said at an event in Pennsylvania. Trump twice missed the handle of the white garbage truck emblazoned with his name on Wednesday, and also appeared to lose his balance briefly after missing the door handle.
Walz’s comment came as he was trying to make an economic point about tariffs that Trump pledges to implement if elected.
“You would think over 80 years you would understand how a tariff works,” he said. “Smarter people than Donald Trump, which is a good chunk of folks … have gone on the record to say if Donald Trump goes forward with this plan, they will simply have to raise prices and pass them on to you.”
”Donald Trump saying China will pay for those tariffs the same way Mexico paid for the wall,” Walz said. “It’s not going to happen.”
Detroit has about 524,000 registered voters and it’s anticipated that voter turnout for this election will be somewhere between 51% and 55%, City Clerk Janice Winfrey told reporters Thursday.
Detroit voter turnout in the 2020 general election was 51%.
Security has been heightened and there will be a heavy police presence at Huntington Place convention center in downtown Detroit where ballots will be counted Tuesday night.
Winfrey says her office has been working with local police agencies, Michigan’s attorney general’s office and the Justice Department on what she calls a “comprehensive security plan throughout this week and the days moving forward.”
“This plan will continue through election night to insure the safety of our election workers and the integrity of the election process,” Winfrey said.
Kamala Harris said Thursday that Donald Trump’s comments on women at his latest rally were “very offensive.”
“He does not prioritize the freedom of women and the intelligence of women to make decisions about their own lives and bodies,” she said.
At a rally Wednesday, Trump embellished upon an earlier pledge to “protect” women by adding: “I’m gonna do it whether the women like it or not.”
Harris said Thursday that the health care protections under the Affordable Care Act are on the line on Election Day.
She was responding to a comment by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who told Trump supporters that there would be “massive reform” to the law if Trump wins the presidential election.
Harris told reporters on Thursday morning in Wisconsin that it "has been a part of Donald Trump’s agenda for a very long time. He has made dozens of attempts to get rid of the ACA and now we have further validation of that agenda from his supporter, the speaker of the House.”
Trump was unsuccessful in repealing the health care law during his first four years in office, despite multiple Republican attempts. The most dramatic came in 2017 when the late Sen. John McCain, with a simple thumbs down, voted against repealing the law.
Hillary Clinton, the former first lady who ran as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, will campaign in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday to support the Harris-Walz campaign.
Clinton, who also served as the secretary of state during the Obama administration, will be attending two get-out-the-vote events to encourage voters to cast their ballots early.
Clinton endorsed Harris after her campaign launched in July, and the former first lady headlined fundraisers and spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support of the vice president.
Gwen Walz, U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath and Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson campaigned for Harris in Georgia, a key battleground state.
“This election is truly about life or death,” said McBath at a cafe north of Atlanta. “Women, particularly Black women and women of color in our state, are not getting access to the quality health care that they need and deserve.”
Walz, the wife of Harris running mate Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, said now is not the time for supporters to rest.
“This election is the ultimate group project,” said Walz, a teacher by profession. “And guess what? It’s pass/fail.”
At a rally Wednesday, Trump embellished upon an earlier pledge to “protect” women by adding: “I’m gonna do it whether the women like it or not.”
Walz slammed Trump for that comment.
She has a message for the other side, she said, and the crowd chanted it in unison:
“Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance, please mind your own business!”
Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says he had a phone call with Trump early Thursday in which he wished him luck on Election Day.
Trump regularly praises Orbán during his speeches, reminding supporters that the autocratic leader who has cozied up with Russia and China sees the former president as a respected and feared leader in the world.
Orbán had previously thrown his support for Trump and visited him in his Mar-a-Lago estate in July.
“Just got off the phone with President @realDonaldTrump . I wished him the best of luck for next Tuesday. Only five days to go. Fingers crossed,” Orbán posted on X.
A judge in Philadelphia has put a state challenge of Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes on hold while lawyers for the billionaire and his political action committee try to move the lawsuit to federal court.
The giveaways aim to boost Trump’s presidential campaign through Election Day. Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner calls the America PAC sweepstakes an illegal lottery under Pennsylvania law.
Experts on election law question whether it violates federal law against vote-buying. Judge Angelo Foglietta heard motions from both sides on Thursday in a City Hall courtroom.
Rapper Cardi B will speak at Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in Milwaukee on Friday, the latest in a long line of celebrities who have stumped for the Democratic nominee in the closing days of the 2024 campaign.
The Harris campaign announced the addition on Thursday. The event will also feature performances by GloRilla, Flo Milli, MC Lyte, The Isley Brothers, DJ GEMINI GILLY.
This is not the first time Cardi B has jumped into the political fray. The rapper was close to Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2020, including lauding his first run in 2016 and appearing in a video meant to appeal to young voters. She has also been an outspoken critic of Trump and supported President Joe Biden in 2020.
“I’m tired of getting upset every single time I see this man talk,” she said of Trump before Election Day in 2020.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk doesn't like a campaign ad for Harris that says a woman doesn't need to consult her husband when choosing who to vote for.
The ad shows a woman in a voting booth, casting a ballot for Harris. Then, as she leaves, her husband asks her if she made “the right choice” — strongly suggesting that the ‘right choice’ is Trump.
“Sure did honey," she responds.
Kirk, speaking on conservative Megyn Kelly’s podcast, labeled the ad “the embodiment of the downfall of the American family.”
The ad was by Vote Common Good, an outside organization that aims to target progressive, religious voters.
Harris has a new campaign ad in Spanish that will air in battleground states that seizes on comments made about Puerto Ricans during a Trump rally.
The ad, in Spanish, questions why a comic at the rally in New York would call the U.S. territory a “floating island of garbage.”
The ad's announcer says: “This Nov. 5 Trump will understand that some people’s trash is others’ treasure.”
Since the rally, Latino celebrities and leaders have come out in support of the Democratic nominee.
The ad is part of a larger $370 million buy, and will air on Univision and Telemundo during high viewership telenovelas, and on digital platforms including El Nuevo Día, YouTube and Snapchat.
Billions of dollars in ads are raining down on voters across the Rust Belt, Rocky Mountains and American Southwest as the two major political parties struggle for control of the U.S. Senate.
Republicans need to pick up two seats to capture a surefire majority, and one of those — West Virginia — is all but in the bag for the GOP.
Republican strategists say they’re targeting seven other states where Democrats are defending seats: Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Democrats, conversely, say they are forcing competitive contests in two red states, Texas and Nebraska.
Data from political ad tracking firm AdImpact projects that more than $2.5 billion will be spent on advertising in Senate races in this two-year campaign cycle, slightly more than the 2022 total.
Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Nicky Jam has withdrawn his endorsement of Trump.
Tony Hinchcliffe — a comic who called Puerto Rico “garbage” before a packed Trump rally in New York — appears to be the catalyst.
In a video statement posted to his Instagram, Jam says he thought Trump would be good for the economy. But after Hinchcliffe’s comments, he says can no longer support the former president.
Other Puerto Rican superstars have backed Harris, including Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin.
Trump is traveling to New Mexico and Virginia in the campaign’s final days — choosing to stump for votes in states that Republicans haven't won in decades.
The former president will campaign in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Thursday during a swing that will also take him to the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada.
He’ll be in Salem, Virginia, on Saturday. The Trump team is projecting optimism and thinks he can be competitive against Harris in New Mexico and Virginia.
A Philadelphia judge is set to hold a hearing in the city prosecutor’s bid to shut down Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day sweepstakes in battleground states.
The giveaways come from Musk’s political organization, which aims to boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign through Election Day.
Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner hopes to stop the America PAC sweepstakes. Judge Angelo Foglietta will hear motions Thursday on the issue in a City Hall courtroom. Matthew Haverstick is one of several lawyers representing the defendants.
Lawyers for Musk filed a motion late Wednesday seeking to move the case to federal court. However, a spokesperson for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Thursday the initial hearing at City Hall was still scheduled.
Across the U.S., people’s phones are pinging with text messages from Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and their allies.
Both sides are working the texting pipeline aggressively in the presidential campaign’s last days. It’s a cheap and easy way to reach millions of potential donors and voters.
It’s also an aggravation for many. At recent Harris and Trump rallies, some of the attendees said enough already. But the texting torrent is not bound to let up before Election Day next week, if it even does then.
A new poll from The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that about 7 in 10 Americans report feeling anxious or frustrated about the 2024 presidential campaign, and a similar share say they’re interested.
Only about one-third say they feel excited.
About 7 in 10 Americans say “anxious” describes how they are feeling ahead of Tuesday. For partisans, anxiety is dialed a little higher than before.
About 8 in 10 Democrats say “anxious” describes how they are feeling now, up slightly from the last election. About two-thirds of Republicans are anxious, a moderate uptick from 2020.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris walks to board Air Force Two before departing Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Brendan Smialowski/ Pool via AP)
A text is viewed on a mobile device Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Washington, as across the U.S., people's phones are pinging with text messages from Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and their allies in the presidential campaign's final days. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
People wait in line for a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at Lee's Family Forum, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Henderson, Nev. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Stage construction has begun, for a Harris/Walz election eve rally, in front of the Art Museum in Philadelphia on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Resch Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
