The Nasdaq constituents, including big tech names, dragged US markets lower ahead of a massive week for earnings reports, falling 1.2%.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones fell 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively, as investors get set to learn how the most popular companies are performing.
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was the worst performer, down 2%, along with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) down 1.9% with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) comparatively stronger, weakening by 0.9%.
Microsoft & UPS report
Microsoft released its earnings report after the market closed, delivering another record-breaking year with profit exceeding US$60 billion on the back of US$165 billion in revenue, marking a near 30% increase in earnings for the final quarter.
Every segment delivered better growth than expected, with cloud software up to US$14.6 billion, a 50% increase on the previous quarter.
The Azure platform continues to deliver as companies are forced online as the pandemic entered a second year, growing 51%. Another incredible year for just the second US$2 trillion company in history.
United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) struggled in comparison, falling 7%, as revenue rose 14.5% globally but just 10% in the US.
Other big tech names in Alphabet and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) will be on watch tomorrow after both tech giants released respective earnings reports after hours.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks performed overnight.
- Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) up 3.0%
- Trip.com (NASDAQ: TCOM) up 2.5%
- McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) up 1.0%
- Square (NYSE: SQ) down 3.9%
- Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI) down 6.8%
- Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD) down 10.2%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is set to follow US benchmarks lower when the market opens on Wednesday. For all the latest, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.
