Wall St ends lower as Meta, Microsoft highlight AI costs
Meta Platforms, Microsoft drag megacaps lower
Estee Lauder on track for worst day on record
September PCE data in line with estimates
Updates to close
By Abigail Summerville
Oct 31 (Reuters) - Major U.S. stock indexes closed loweron Thursday after Microsoft and Meta Platforms highlighted growing artificial intelligencecosts that could hit their earnings, curbingenthusiasm for megacaps that have fueledthe market rally this year.
Shares of Facebook-owner Meta PlatformsMETA.O and MicrosoftMSFT.O fell, despiteboth companies beating earnings estimates in results reported after the bell on Wednesday.
Other so-called Magnificent Seven megacap technology stocks also slipped. Amazon.com AMZN.O and Apple AAPL.O dropped ahead of their quarterly results, due after the market close. Shares ofAlphabet GOOGL.O, which reported on Tuesday, also fell.
"You had three of the Magnificent Seven all say they basically have open-ended budgets for AI spend and investors don't like to hear that," said Carol Schleif, chief investment officer at BMO Family Office.
"The intermediate and longer-term implications of this buildout are really important for U.S. long-term growth and long-term productivity. ... In the short run, investors are asking where's the profit from it?"
Microsoft and Meta both said their capital expenses were growing due to AI investments, which could reduce profitability.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 110.39 points, or 1.90%, to end at 5,703.28 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 522.07 points, or 2.81%, to 18,085.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 380.02 points, or 0.93%, to 41,761.52.
The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, rose 0.2% in September, in line with economists' expectations. However, the core figure was 2.7% year-over-year, slightly abovethe 2.6% forecast, while consumer spending increased a little more than expected.
After the data, traders stuck to bets for a 25-basis-point rate reduction in the Fed's November meeting.
"We do expect them to cut by a quarter next week because there is nothing in the data this week that should throw them off of that," Schleif said.
Information technology .SPLRCT led declines among sectors, but upbeat results from ConocoPhillips COP.N and Entergy ETR.N lifted energy .SPNY and utilities .SPLRCU.
An index of chip stocks .SOX fell,led by plunging shares inMonolithic Power Systems MPWR.O after the maker of power control products and semiconductors used in vehicles reportedits results. Nvidia NVDA.O also dropped.
The VIX .VIX, Wall Street's "fear gauge," ticked up asinvestors braced for more volatility in the next few weeks from corporate results and the Nov. 5U.S. presidential election followed by the Fed's policy-setting meeting.
Estee Lauder EL.N slumped, ontrack for its worst day on record, after the cosmetics company withdrew its 2025 annual forecasts.
Shares of Uber Technologies UBER.N plunged after the ride-hailing company forecast fourth-quarter gross bookings below expectations.
The Magnificent Seven https://reut.rs/4fgLCgW
S&P 500 ahead of US presidential elections https://reut.rs/3NNjZQM
Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York; Editing by Richard Chang
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