1. Tech under pressure: It could be another tough day for tech stocks.
Shares in Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL), the parent company of Google, both dropped in extended trading after the firms released earnings.
Alphabet revealed third quarter revenues of $33.7 billion. While that’s a 21% jump from the same time last year, it was less than analysts expected.
It was the same story at Amazon. It reported a $2.9 billion profit for the three months ending in September, its largest to date. But its sales and forecast for the upcoming quarter both came in below Wall Street estimates.
Snap (SNAP), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB) and Paypal (PYPL) were also lower in premarket trading.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq is having a tough time. Despite a rally on Thursday, the index is still down 9% in October, and on track for its worst month since November 2008.
2. US GDP: The US economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.5% in the third quarter, the government said Friday.
That’s lower than the 4.2% clip the economy grew during the second quarter, but it’s still quite strong. It was the sixth-consecutive quarter with growth above 2%.
The growth was in-line with economists’ forecasts.
3. Global market overview: US stock futures were firmly down.
European markets opened sharply lower. Benchmark indexes in London, Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid shed between 1.5% and 2%.
Asian markets ended the session in negative territory. Korean Kospi was the biggest loser in the region, down 1.8%.
The slump comes after a day of gains on Wall Street. The Dow gained 1.6% on Thursday, while the S&P 500 added 1.9%. The Nasdaq surged 3%.
4. Earnings and economics: Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Charter Comm (CHTR) and Phillips 66 (PSX) will release earnings before the open.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has put aside £100 million ($128 million) to deal with the “more uncertain economic outlook.”
It’s the first big lender to take such step ahead of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union in March. Shares in the bank dropped over 4.4%.
Total (TOT) said net income grew 48% to $4 billion in the most recent quarter, boosted by a sharp rise in oil prices. Shares in the French oil giant dropped 2%.
What boosted Total is causing headaches for IAG, the owner of British Airways. The company said higher fuel costs will impact its profits this year.
Despite the cost increase, IAG (ICAGY) still beat analyst expectations on sales and shares rose 2%.
Swiss group Richemont (CFRHF) has signed a deal with Alibaba (BABA) to bring its Net-a-Porter and Mr. Porter brands into the world’s largest luxury market.
5. Coming this week:
Friday — Colgate-Palmovie (C) and Charter Communications (CHTR) earnings
