Wall Street closes lower as ad tech, social media stocks fall

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

July 22 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday as disappointing earnings from Snap spooked investors and shares in social media and advertising technology firms fell, offsetting gains in card issuer American Express after an upbeat forecast.

Still, all three major indexes posted weekly gains despite Friday’s losses, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq closing the week 3.3% higher. The S&P 500 rose 2.4%, and the Dow rose 2%.

The Snapchat owner posted its weakest quarterly sales growth ever as a public company, sending Snap Inc shares down nearly 40%, while Twitter Inc ( TWTR.N ) reversed earlier losses to add 0.8% after a surprise drop in revenue. read more

Other online companies that rely heavily on ads, such as tech giants Meta Platforms Inc ( META.O ) and Alphabet Inc ( GOOGL.O ) fell 7.6% and 5.6% respectively, weighing on the Nasdaq (.IXIC).

Meta and Alphabet are set to publish their earnings next week, along with major companies including Apple Inc ( AAPL.O ), Microsoft Corp ( MSFT.O ) and Amazon.com Inc ( AMZN.O ).

S&P 500 communications services (.SPLRCL) and information technology (.SPLRCT) fell 4.3% and 1.4%, respectively, leading declines among the index’s 11 sectors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 137.61 points, or 0.43%, to 31,899.29, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 37.32 points, or 0.93%, to 3,961.63 and The Nasdaq Composite fell (0.2IX or 5.2IX). 1.87% to 11,834.11.

“Revenues are coming in less badly than feared, but they are deteriorating from what we were used to and used to in recent quarters,” said Bob Doll, CIO of Crossmark Global Investments.

With 106 of the S&P 500 companies reporting earnings through Friday morning, 75.5% topped analyst expectations, below the 81% beat rate over the past four quarters, according to Refinitiv data. read more

All eyes are on the Federal Reserve’s meeting and US gross domestic product data for the second quarter next week. While the US central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points to curb ongoing inflation, GDP data is likely to turn negative again. read more

Meanwhile, a survey on Friday showed U.S. business activity slowed for the first time in nearly two years in July, adding to concerns about an economy hampered by high inflation, rising interest rates and declining consumer confidence. read more

“Economic data is coming in weaker … kind of confirming the fact that a recession is very likely in the next 12 months. And markets are trying to figure out what that looks like with economic growth slowing significantly [and] The Fed is in the midst of some pretty aggressive fiscal tightening, said Megan Horneman, chief investment officer at Verdence Capital Advisors in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

Verizon Communications Inc ( VZ.N ) fell 6.8% after announcing it cut its annual adjusted earnings forecast as inflation weighs. American Express Co ( AXP.N ) rose 1.9% on strong earnings and an increased revenue forecast. read more

Volume on US exchanges was 10.38 billion shares, compared to the average of 11.53 billion for the full session over the past 20 trading days.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 1.43 to 1; on the Nasdaq a 2.49 to 1 ratio favored decliners.

S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week high and 31 new lows; The Nasdaq Composite registered 32 new highs and 74 new lows.

Reporting by Echo Wang in New York; Additional reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal, Aniruddha Ghosh and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyaadeb Chakrabarty, Sriraj Kalluvila, Shounak Dasgupta and Aurora Ellis

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