Global stock indexes mostly rose on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq scoring a record closing high ahead of key earnings reports this week, while Treasury yields hit multimonth highs early as the U.S. presidential election was just a week away.
After the closing bell, shares of Alphabet were up 6% as the Google parent topped third-quarter revenue expectations and noted an AI-driven surge in its cloud business. The stock ended the regular session up 1.8%.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154.52 points, or 0.36%, to 42,233.05, the S&P 500 rose 9.40 points, or 0.16%, to 5,832.92 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 145.56 points, or 0.78%, to 18,712.75.
Market Movers
Ford fell 8.4% after the auto maker reported third-quarter operating profit of $2.6 billion. That matched analysts' expectations but Ford expects full-year operating profit of about $10 billion, at the bottom end of a guidance range provided in July of $10 billion to $12 billion. Revenue in the period rose 5% to $46.2 billion. Electric-vehicle losses in the third quarter, however, were $1.2 billion, with Ford saying "$500 million of year-over-year cost improvements were offset by expected industrywide pricing pressure."
VF Corp, which owns brands such as Vans, North Face, and Timberland, reported fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings of 60 cents a share, beating analysts' estimates of 38 cents, and revenue of $2.76 billion that beat forecasts of $2.72 billion. "Our Americas regional platform is fully operational and showing promising signs, while the performance at Vans is improving," said CEO Bracken Darrell. The stock rallied 27%.
D.R. Horton declined 7.2% after the home builder reported fiscal-fourth-quarter revenue of $10 billion, missing Wall Street estimates for $10.2 billion. "Despite continued affordability challenges and competitive market conditions, our net sales orders in the fourth quarter increased slightly from the prior year to 19,035 homes," said Executive Chairman David Auld. "While mortgage rates have decreased from their highs earlier this year, many potential home buyers expect rates to be lower in 2025."
Pfizer posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.06 a share, smashing the consensus estimate for 61 cents. Revenue rose 31% to $17.7 billion from a year earlier, and topped the consensus estimate for $14.92 billion. The pharmaceuticals firm also raised guidance for 2024. Shares fell 1.4%.
SoFi Technologies Inc. fell 6.4% after trading higher in the premarket session. The fintech company reported its fourth straight quarter of profitability and topped analysts' estimates.
PayPal Holdings was down 4%. The payments company beat estimates for adjusted earnings in the third quarter, and said for the fiscal year it now expects adjusted earnings per share to grow in the high teens, compared with an earlier forecast of low- to mid-teens-percentage growth.
Royal Caribbean Cruises beat earnings expectations, and lifted full-year guidance as pricing and demand remained strong in the third quarter. Guidance for the fourth quarter, however, was below expectations, partly due to the impact of Hurricane Milton. The stock was up 3.2%.
Crocs dropped 19% after the casual-footwear maker reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings but estimated full-year revenue growth of about 3%, at the lower end of guidance for 3% to 5% growth. Crocs estimated revenue at its HeyDude brand would drop about 14.5% for the year.
Trump Media & Technology rose 8.8%. Shares of the company, the operator of the Truth Social site and which is majority owned by former President Donald Trump, were halted earlier in the session. Shares rose 22% on Monday.
Cadence Design jumped 13% after the provider of semiconductor-design software posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.64 a share on sales of $1.22 billion, better than estimates that called for earnings of $1.44 a share on sales of $1.18 billion. The company also raised its fiscal-year outlook.
Oil company BP PLC reported third-quarter underlying replacement-cost profit of $2.27 billion, down from $3.29 billion a year earlier but better than analysts' estimates of $2.05 billion. The company said weaker realized refining margins and lower oil prices led to the quarterly earnings decline. U.S.-listed shares of BP fell 5.4%.
Market News
Alphabet's AI Investments Boost Cloud Sales, Lifts Maturing Ad Business
Google parent Alphabet said on Tuesday its AI investments were "paying off" as it reported a 35% surge in its cloud business and U.S. election-related spending lifted YouTube ad sales in the third quarter.
Alphabet shares rose nearly 6% in after-market trading on Tuesday. Shares of Amazon and Microsoft, the top cloud companies, were up about 1% after hours.
Alphabet topped third-quarter revenue and earnings expectations. Its mainstay Search business jumped 12% and as did revenue from YouTube ads.
AMD Revenue Forecast and AI Chip Sales Fail to Impress Wall Street
Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday forecast fourth-quarter revenue just shy of estimates and raised its artificial intelligence chip sales forecast to $5 billion for 2025 - not enough to impress investors.
AMD stock slid nearly 8% in extended trading.
The company expects revenue of $7.5 billion, plus or minus $300 million for the fourth quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of $7.54 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. AMD forecast an adjusted gross margin of roughly 54%, which met analyst expectations.
Reddit Shares Jump 25% as AI Deals Boost Quarterly Revenue Forecast
Reddit on Tuesday reported its first quarterly profit and forecast fourth-quarter revenue above estimates, helped by its AI content licensing deals and strong digital advertising spending, sending its shares up 25% in extended trading.
Reddit's results, its third after going public in March, stoke confidence that more advertisers are turning to the platform, driven by initiatives including translation into other languages by using machine learning to tap new users.