Stock Market Today: Live Updates

The European Union has introduced a major investigation into Metaplatform investigating possible violations of regional online content laws regarding child safety. The European Commission said in a statement that it is investigating whether Facebook and Instagram “have the potential to stimulate behavioral addictions in children and cause the so-called ‘rabbit hole effect’.”

Meta stock fell slightly in premarket.

— Fred Imbert

Baidu reported better-than-expected first-quarter sales, and the Chinese tech company’s stock rose 2% in premarket. The company’s highest profit was 31.51 billion yuan, exceeding LSEG’s estimate of 31.21 billion yuan.

“Baidu Core’s online marketing revenue remained stable, and end-to-end optimization of our AI technology stack continued to drive AI cloud revenue growth during the quarter,” said Co-Founder and CEO said Robin Li in a statement.

European markets opened mixed on Thursday, with strong earnings weighing on relief in global markets after weaker-than-expected U.S. inflation data.

Britain’s FTSE 100 index fell 0.3% to 8,416, Germany’s DAX fell 0.02% to 18,864, France’s CAC fell 0.2% to 8,221 and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.03% to 35,366.

According to Reuters, following reports of an explosion at the factory, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company announced that there was no damage to equipment at its Arizona factory construction site.

An employee at TSMC’s Arizona plant was taken to the hospital with serious injuries in the explosion, the Arizona Republic earlier reported, citing authorities.

The Arizona Republic reported that firefighters from multiple departments responded to a hazardous materials call Wednesday afternoon.

The chipmaker said in a statement that there were no reports of injuries among its employees or construction workers at the site, Reuters reported.

—Shreyashi Sanyal, Reuters

Tencent’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose 4.5% after the Chinese tech giant beat analysts’ expectations for first-quarter sales and profit.

The company reported late Tuesday that revenue in its core gaming business increased slightly and profitability improved in its advertising and business services division.

First-quarter sales were 159.5 billion Chinese yuan ($22 billion), higher than analysts’ expectations of 158.4 billion yuan. Profit attributable to shareholders was 41.9 billion yuan, compared to the expected 36.64 billion yuan.

According to LSEG data, the company’s adjusted net profit increased 62% year-on-year, marking the highest growth since the fiscal year ended March 2021.

Hong Kong markets resumed trading on Thursday after the holiday.

— Shreyashi Sanyal, Arjun Karpal

Chinese real estate stocks were buoyed by reports that the country is considering buying millions of unsold homes from struggling developers to shore up its struggling real estate market. It rose.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Mainland Property Index rose more than 6%.

Hong Kong-listed Logan Group’s share price rose 11.59%, while Longfor Group’s share price rose 14.63%. China Vanke rose 14.78%. Private developer CIFI Holdings soared 25%.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported that China’s State Council is gathering input from government agencies and ministries on the task of local state-owned enterprises to buy unsold homes at steep discounts using loans from state banks. It was reported that there was.

—Li Yingshan

According to official data, Japan’s economy contracted at an annual rate of 2% in the first quarter of 2024.

Preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter fell more than expected, compared to the 1.5% decline expected in a Reuters poll..

The latest statistics could also jeopardize the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hike plans.

At its last monetary policy meeting on April 26, the Bank of Japan left the base interest rate unchanged at 0% to 0.1%, stating that monetary policy would depend on future economic conditions.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Wednesday’s market rally pushed the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) to its highest level since December.

ITB rose 3.7%, marking its best session since Dec. 14, when it rose more than 6%.Year-to-date, ETF is up more than 10%

Wednesday’s rally in homebuilder stocks came as U.S. Treasury yields fell following a weaker-than-expected inflation report. Stocks related to the housing sector are particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates.

Stocks within ITB that performed particularly well on the day included DR Horton, which rose nearly 6.5%, and Lennar, which rose 5.3%. Pulte Group also rose more than 5%.

–Darla Mercado, Chris Hayes, Ethan Craft

While US defense sector earnings consensus revisions remain flat in the short term, Barclays believes this trend could reverse in the next year or so.

Analyst Charlotte Keyworth said: “We expect debate over the future defense budget to be postponed until after the presidential election and into early 2025, providing an opportunity for the defense sector to recover from the recent downturn. may occur,” he said.

Within the U.S. defense sector, Keyworth likes General Dynamics and L3Harris Technologies due to their discount multiples and good free cash flow growth.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Below are some of the biggest moves in expansion trading.

• AST SpaceMobile — Shares soared 42% after AST SpaceMobile announced a commercial agreement with AT&T to bring its space-based broadband network directly to everyday mobile phones.
• CHUBB — The property and casualty insurer rose 7% after Berkshire Hathaway said it bought about 26 million shares of the Zurich-based company worth $6.7 billion.
• Cisco Systems — LSEG said shares rose nearly 5% after the tech giant reported fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings of 88 cents per share on revenue of $12.7 billion, beating analyst expectations. It beat earnings by 82 cents on revenue of $12.53 billion. .

For more moving stocks, check out this list.

— Tanaya Machel

Stock futures were little changed into trading Wednesday night.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.02%, while S&P 500 futures fell 0.05% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.02%.

In regular trading, all major average stock prices closed at record highs.

— Tanaya Machel