Wall St ends lower as Meta, Microsoft highlight AI costs

STORY: U.S. stocks fell across the board Thursday after Microsoft and Meta Platforms highlighted growing artificial intelligence costs that could hit their earnings.

The Dow dropped nearly one percent, the S&P 500 lost nearly two percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid nearly three percent.

All of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ megacap technology stocks finished in the red with Microsoft the biggest loser, down six percent, while Meta was off four percent.

Summit Place Finanical Advisors President Liz Miller calls the group fully valued but continues to see long-term potential.

“I don't think this changes our outlook or the enthusiasm for AI. I'm going to call it a little bit of a course adjustment. All of these companies are established strong companies. They're used to giving us quarterly earnings and what they really said is we're on track, we're taking steps, but maybe it's going to take a little longer than you thought for us to be able to give you data on the revenue streams that follow. When we look at the stocks themselves and what they're down today, they're down just a little bit from the huge strength they had earlier in the year. So, I'm going to just call it a slight course adjustment.”

After the market close, ‘Mag 7’ member Apple beat Wall Street sales and profit expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter, bolstered by strong early sales of the iPhone 16.

Another member of the club, Amazon, posted quarterly revenue and earnings that topped forecasts, setting up a potential bounce-back in shares Friday.

On the economic front, a key inflation measure came in roughly in line with expectations while consumer spending increased a little more than expected.

After the data, traders stuck to bets for a 25-basis-point interest rate reduction at the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week.