The S&P 500 ended a five-session streak of record highs on Friday, with Intel slumping after a bleak revenue forecast, while U.S. economic data showed inflation moderating.
Even as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the session lower, all three major indexes recorded their third straight weekly gain and their 12th weekly advance out of 13.
For the week, the S&P 500 added 1.06%, the Dow gained 0.65% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.94%.
Market Snapshot
The S&P 500 declined 0.07% to end the session at 4,890.97 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.36% to 15,455.36 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.16% to 38,109.43 points.
Market Movers
Intel (INTC) - Intel fell 11.9% after the semiconductor company issued a revenue forecast for the first quarter that was significantly below analysts’ expectations. Intel said it expects revenue in the period of $12.2 billion to $13.2 billion, below consensus of $14.2 billion. The company forecast adjusted earnings in the first quarter of 13 cents a share, below analysts’ estimates of 34 cents. Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said Intel’s forecast was taking a hit from struggles in the company’s programmable-chip unit and its autonomous-driving business.
Shares of other chip makers sank: AMD fell 1.7%, Nvidia dropped 1%, Broadcom declined 2%, and Qualcomm fell 2.4%.
American Express (AXP) - American Express reported fourth-quarter earnings of $2.62 a share on revenue of $15.8 billion. The company said it expects revenue in 2024 to increase 9% to 11% with earnings of $12.65 to $13.15 a share. American Express said demand for its premium products “remained robust.” Shares rose 7.1%.
Visa (V) - Visa reported adjusted first-quarter earnings of $2.41 a share, better than forecasts of $2.34 as revenue rose 9% to $8.63 billion. Visa said payments volume rose 8% and processed transactions rose 9% in the period. The company reiterated its revenue and per-share profit forecast for the fiscal year. The stock closed down 1.7%.
Spirit Airlines (SAVE), JetBlue (JBLU) - Spirit Airlines dropped 13.4% after JetBlue Airways warned it may have to terminate its merger with the budget carrier as soon as Sunday if certain closing conditions weren’t met. A federal judge blocked their planned merger earlier this month but the airlines had said they planned to appeal. JetBlue rose 3.5%.
Western Digital (WDC) - Western Digital reported a fiscal second-quarter adjusted loss of 69 cents a share, narrower than analysts’ estimates that called for a loss of $1.12. Revenue fell 2% to $3.03 billion from $3.11 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Cloud revenue fell 13%. Western Digital issued third-quarter sales guidance of $3.2 billion to $3.4 billion, compared with analysts’ expectations of $3.15 billion. Shares declined 3.5%.
KLA Corp. (KLAC) - KLA Corp., which makes equipment for the semiconductor industry, reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $582.5 million, or $4.28 a share, compared with $978.8 million, or $6.89 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $2.49 billion from $2.98 billion a year earlier. KLA said it expects fiscal third-quarter revenue of $2.3 billion, plus or minus $125 million, versus expectations of $2.45 billion. KLA shares declined 6.6%.
Norfolk Southern (NSC) - Norfolk Southern fell 1.5% after adjusted quarterly earnings at the railroad operator missed estimates and the company recorded another charge—this time of $150 million—associated with the East Palestine train derailment in February 2023.
Snap (SNAP) - Snap was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank and the price target was raised to $19 from $10. Shares of the Snapchat parent fell 0.3% to $16.25.
Market News
Fed's Favorite Inflation Gauge Rose 0.2% in December and Was up 2.9% From a Year Ago
An important inflation gauge released Friday showed that the rate of price increases cooled as 2023 came to a close.
The Commerce Department’s personal consumption expenditures price index for December, an important gauge for the Federal Reserve, increased 0.2% on the month and was up 2.9% on a yearly basis, excluding food and energy. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for respective increases of 0.2% and 3%.
On a monthly basis, core inflation increased from 0.1% in November. However, the annual rate declined from 3.2%. The 12-month rate is the lowest since March 2021.
Microsoft Teams Suffers Outage Affecting Thousands, Sparking User Frustration
Microsoft Corp.’s Teams suffered an outage Friday, prompting users to voice their frustration on social media with the workplace-communications platform.
“User reports indicate problems at Microsoft Teams,” the Down Detector website, which monitors online outages, posted Friday. Down Detector showed that as of 1:43 p.m. Eastern time, users had submitted 14,599 reports of problems with Microsoft Teams.
“We’ve identified a networking issue impacting a portion of the Teams service and we’re performing a failover to remediate impact,” Microsoft 365’s official updates account on X posted Friday morning.