Nasdaq falls 3.7% after poor Meta earnings report

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 3.74% on Thursday as poor fourth-quarter earnings from Facebook parent, Meta, dragged tech stocks lower. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

Feb. 3 (UPI) — U.S. markets snapped a four-day winning streak on Thursday as a rally in tech shares was halted after Facebook parent, Meta reported poor fourth-quarter earnings.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed the day down 3.74%, while the S&P 500 fell 2.44%. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average also declined 518.17 points or 1.45%.

Thursday’s losses came after Meta on Wednesday reported lower-than-expected earnings at $3.67 per share along with lower user numbers and projected that revenue in the first quarter will be $27 billion-$29 billion, lower than analysts’ expectations of $30.15 billion.

Shares of Meta plummeted 26.39% on Thursday and other social media companies also took a hit with Snap dropping 23.53% and Twitter sliding 5.59%.

“Facebook is a confidence builder,” JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, said, according to CNBC. “It’s a super widely held stock and a core part of many portfolios, so when it has such a difficult time, it just shakes overall confidence. The question right now is, is this a Meta-specific issue, or is this going to be an overall issue?”

Shares of Amazon fell 7.81% in regular trading but shot up more than 17% after hours as the company posted strong earnings.

The company reported that revenue rose 9% in the fourth quarter to $137.4 billion, while also announcing it will increase the price of its annual Prime membership from $119 to $139 beginning on March 25.

Thursday also saw West Texas Intermediate Crude prices rise to $90 per barrel for the first time since 2014.

First-time unemployment claims fell for the second consecutive week, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday.

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