Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Tuesday as technology sector losses offset gains in communications services while investors waited for key inflation reports that may influence the Federal Reserve's next interest rate decisions.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154.10 points, or 0.35%, to 44,247.83, the S&P 500 lost 17.94 points, or 0.30%, to 6,034.91 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 49.45 points, or 0.25%, to 19,687.24.
Market Movers
Google parent Alphabet's shares rose more than 5% Tuesday after the company unveiled a "breakthrough" quantum computing chip called Willow. Willow can complete computations in minutes that would take supercomputers 10 septillion years, Google said.
Nvidia fell 2.7% after closing down 2.6% Monday as a Chinese regulator said it was investigating the leading maker of artificial-intelligence chips over a suspected violation of antimonopoly laws. Nvidia's revenue in China totaled $13.5 billion in the past four quarters, accounting for 12% of its global total, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Walgreens Boots Alliance soared 18% after The Wall Street Journal reported it was in talks to sell itself to private-equity firm Sycamore Partners. Walgreens and Sycamore have been discussing a deal that could be completed early next year, assuming those plans don't fall apart. The Journal report cited people familiar with the matter.
Tesla was up 2.9% to $400.99. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas raised his price target on shares of the electric-vehicle maker to $400 from $310 and maintained an Overweight rating on the stock.
GameStop reported a third-quarter profit on Tuesday as the videogame retailer ramps up its cost-saving efforts, including shutting stores and selling higher-margin goods. Its shares were up 3% in extended trading.
Shares of Oracle were down 6.7% after the enterprise software company reported fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings that missed Wall Street forecasts. Revenue rose 8.6% to $14.06 billion but was below analysts' projections of $14.12 billion. The company said revenue at its cloud infrastructure unit rose 52% in the period on "record-level AI demand." CEO Chief Executive Safra Catz said she expects Oracle's cloud infrastructure unit to surpass $25 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025.
$Super Micro Computer declined 8.2% to $40.54. While shares of the server-maker have been drawing closer to where they were before Super Micro's recent troubles began, they remain far from a year high of $109 set in March. The company announced last Friday that it had been granted an extension from Nasdaq that gives it until Feb. 25, 2025, to file its latest annual report.
MongoDB, the cloud-based database software company, fell 17% even after third-quarter adjusted earnings handily beat Wall Street forecasts. Revenue rose 22% to $529.4 million in the quarter ended Oct. 31, topping consensus of $497.7 million. The company anticipates sales in fiscal 2025 of $1.973 billion to $1.977 billion, up from a previous outlook of $1.92 billion to $1.93 billion. MongoDB said it continues to invest in its "legacy app modernization and AI offerings." The company also announced Michael Gordon, its chief operating officer and chief financial officer, would be stepping down on Jan. 31.
Boeing rose 4.5% after the aerospace giant said it had restarted production of its 737 MAX jets. The announcement came nearly three months after Boeing's machinists union went on strike. The company also said Tuesday it delivered 13 jetliners in November.
Alaska Air jumped 13% after the carrier offered strong guidance for 2025 and said its board approved a stock buyback program of up to $1 billion. The company also issued a 2027 financial target of $1 billion in incremental profit, predicting "an unprecedented level of revenue growth" over the next three years. Alaska completed a $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Holdings in September.
Home builder Toll Brothers reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings that beat analysts' forecasts while revenue rose to $3.33 billion from $3.02 billion a year earlier and topped estimates of $3.17 billion. The company guided for first-quarter deliveries of 1,900 to 2,100 units, and fiscal 2025 deliveries of 11,200 to 11,600 units. In the year-earlier first quarter, Toll delivered 1,927 homes; it delivered 9,597 homes in fiscal 2024. The stock declined 7%.
Planet Labs dipped 4.4% after the satellite imagery provider issued a fourth-quarter outlook that missed analysts' estimates. Planet Labs said it expects revenue in the period of $61 million to $63 million compared with estimates of $66.6 million. Third-quarter revenue rose 11% to $61.3 million but was below estimates of $63.1 million.
Yext, the search-software company, said it expects fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 12 cents to 13 cents a share on revenue between $112.4 million and $112.9 million, below Wall Street forecasts that called for adjusted earnings of 14 cents a share on revenue of $113.5 million. Yext shares fell 17%.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings was up 1.7% to $26.40 after the cruise operator was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs and the price target was boosted to $35 from $29, the Fly reported.
Shares of eBay fell 2.9% to $63.23. Analysts at Jefferies reduced their recommendation on the online marketplace to Underperform from Hold and cut their price target to $52 from $60.
Market News
Microsoft Shareholders Reject Proposal To Explore Bitcoin Investment
Microsoft shareholders voted against a proposal urging the company to study adding Bitcoin BTC/USD to its balance sheet, effectively ending discussions about the tech giant joining other corporates with Bitcoin holdings.
The vote, announced during Microsoft's annual meeting, came after the board advised shareholders to reject the idea.
The motion, titled “Assessment of Investing in Bitcoin,” was submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank.
SpaceX Valuation Jumps to About $350 Billion in Insider Sale
SpaceX and its investors have agreed to purchase as much as $1.25 billion of insider shares in a transaction valuing Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker at about $350 billion, according to an internal email seen by Bloomberg.
The per-share price of $185 is up substantially from the $112 set in a prior valuation less than three months ago, said the memo, which was separately confirmed by people familiar with the matter. SpaceX alone is offering to purchase as much as $500 million worth of common stock, it said.
