As major big tech corporations consecutively announce their earnings, the three major stock indexes on the New York Stock Exchange closed higher.
On the 30th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 44,882.13, up 0.38% from the previous day, on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500 index increased by 0.53% to 6,071.17, while the Nasdaq index closed at 19,681.75, up 0.25%.
The stock prices of major big techs showed mixed results. Meta, which reported sales and profits that exceeded expectations after the previous day's market close, rose by 1.55% on this day. Tesla presented results below market expectations, yet its stock price increased by 2.76%. Elon Musk, the chief executive officer, mentioned that the autonomous taxi service, RoboTaxi, would be offered in several cities by the end of the year, which is interpreted as positively impacting investor sentiment. Microsoft saw a sharp decline of 6.18% as its quarterly revenue fell short of expert forecasts. Apple also saw a decrease of 0.74%.
On this day, key economic indicators were also released. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that the preliminary real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for the fourth quarter of last year was 2.3% on an annualized basis compared to the previous quarter. This was below the growth rate for the third quarter of last year (3.1%) and market expectations (2.7%). However, a general assessment emerged that robust growth momentum continued.
Employment was also confirmed to be stable. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of new unemployment claims for the week (from January 19 to 25) was reported at 207,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the revised figure of 223,000 claims from the previous week. This was below the expert estimate of 224,000 by 17,000.