US stock futures fall as Meta, Microsoft underwhelm

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Thursday, with technology giants Meta (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) both lower as an increased outlook for capital spending largely offset positive quarterly earnings.

Futures fell following a negative session on Wall Street, as anxiety over rising yields, an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting and a tight presidential race dented risk appetite. Weak earnings and guidance from some chipmakers also weighed on sentiment. More major tech earnings are due in the coming days, as are a batch of key economic
readings.

By 04:01 ET (08:01 GMT), the Dow futures contract was down 181 points or 0.4%, S&P 500 futures had shed 41 points or 0.7%, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 218 points or 1%.

Microsoft, Meta fall on increased expenses outlook

Tech giants Meta and Microsoft both fell more than 3% in aftermarket trade, even as their earnings for the September quarter beat expectations.

But both firms forecast increased expenses on artificial intelligence in the coming quarters, while also missing expectations on other key metrics.

Microsoft forecast slower-than-expected cloud business growth in the current quarter while clocking much higher expenses, especially on AI.

Meta warned of a sharp increase in AI-related spending in the coming year, while user growth was at a slower pace in the September quarter than the prior one.

The showings provided mixed cues to investors about just how much of an earnings driver AI was going to be, especially considering the copious amount of capital expenditure on the technology. They also largely offset positive cues from Goole parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which clocked strong growth in its quarterly cloud revenue but did not warn of a drastic increase in costs.