U.S. stock index futures recovered some losses on Thursday after jobless claims data. Weekly jobless claims jump to 231,000, the highest since August.
Market Snapshot
At 8:35 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 47 points, or 0.12%, S&P 500 e-minis and Nasdaq 100 e-minis turned green.
Initial filings for unemployment benefits hit their highest level since late August 2023 in a potential sign that an otherwise robust labor market is changing.
Jobless claims totaled a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ended May 4, up 22,000 from the previous period and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 214,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Pre-Market Movers
Roblox shares slid 30% in premarket trading. Roblox cut its annual bookings forecast on Thursday, in a sign that people were dialing back on spending within its video-gaming platform amid an uncertain economic outlook and elevated levels of inflation.
U.S.-listed shares of Arm Holdings were falling 8.3% after the chip-design company reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 36 cents a share, up from 2 cents a share a year earlier and better than Wall Street estimates of 30 cents, but issued a fiscal 2025 forecast that underwhelmed investors. The company said it anticipates revenue of $3.8 billion to $4.1 billion in the current fiscal year and adjusted profit of $1.45 to $1.65 a share versus analysts’ forecasts for revenue of almost $4 billion and adjusted profit of $1.54.
Airbnb said it expects second-quarter revenue of $2.68 billion to $2.74 billion, with the midpoint of the forecast below forecasts of $2.74 billion. The company said results in the period would face “a significant sequential headwind” from the timing of Easter, the inclusion of “leap day” in the first quarter, and the impact of foreign exchange rates. Airbnb said it expected year-over-year revenue growth to “accelerate” in the third quarter compared with the second quarter, citing in part the strength of its summer backlog. Shares of the online vacation-rental platform were falling 8.5%.
AppLovin jumped 15% in premarket trading. The app-monetization company reported first-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization that topped Wall Street forecasts. Revenue was $1.06 billion, up 48% from a year earlier and better than estimates of $974 million. The company’s forecast for the second quarter also beat expectations.
Beyond Meat declined 14% after the plant-based meat company said first-quarter revenue dropped 18% to $75.6 million, “primarily driven by a 16.1% decrease in volume of products sold and a 2.3% decrease in net revenue per pound.” The company’s second-quarter revenue guidance also was below Wall Street’s expectations.
SolarEdge Technologies fell 9.6% after the solar-equipment maker posted a wider-than-expected loss in the first quarter and said it expects second-quarter revenue of between $250 million and $280 million, below analysts’ estimates of $307 million.
Klaviyo was up 11%. The marketing-automation company raised its fiscal-year revenue outlook to $899 million to $907 million from previous guidance of $889 million to $897 million.
AMC Entertainment reported a first-quarter loss that narrowed from a year earlier. CEO Adam Aron said the movie-theater chain “had expected for some time the Hollywood actor and writer strikes of 2023 would impact the first-quarter box office,” but was ”heartened by the strength of moviegoing in March, which reminded us that better times are ahead.” Shares fell 2.8%.
Duolingo, the language-learning app, said revenue rose 45% in the first quarter to $167.6 million, and raised its forecast for full-year revenue to $726.5 million to $735.5 million from previous revenue guidance of $729.5 million. The company’s second-quarter forecast, however, was a bit shy of estimates and the stock was tumbling 13%.
Bumble was rising 14% after the online dating company swung to a profit in the first quarter and said total paying users rose 14% to 4 million from 3.5 million a year earlier.
Market News
Alibaba Cloud Unveils Latest Version of Large Language Model
Alibaba Group Holding's cloud division on Thursday unveiled the latest version of its proprietary large language model after more than 90,000 deployments by companies, amid rising demand for generative AI products.
Alibaba Cloud said the latest version of its Tongyi Qianwen model, Qwen2.5, has "remarkable advancements in reasoning, code comprehension, and textual understanding compared to its predecessor Qwen2.0."
Tesla Ramps Up Job Cuts in China as Sales Slowdown Bites
Tesla Inc.’s job cuts are escalating in China, according to people familiar with the matter, as Elon Musk contends with growing pressure to win back share in the world’s biggest auto market.
Additional layoffs began earlier this week, extending cuts in mid-April that were part of the electric vehicle maker’s pledge to slash global headcount by more than 10%, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they’re not authorized to disclose the information publicly.
The latest move affects a range of departments including customer service staff, engineers, production line workers, and the logistics team at Tesla’s Shanghai plant — home to more than half the company’s global production, according to the people. The layoffs last month more directly impacted sales representatives, they said.
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