Stocks slip as Microsoft drags, oil jumps on Iran attack worry

NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Global shares dipped on Thursday and were poised to snap a six-session streak of gains, weighed down by a plunge in Microsoft after its quarterly results, while oil prices jumped on U.S.-Iran tensions.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell, dragged lower by a drop of 10% in Microsoft shares, its biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020, as investors were unnerved by record spending on artificial intelligence last quarter, which also fueled weakness in other tech stocks.

That overshadowed a 10.4% gain in Meta Platforms after its quarterly results and illustrated how investors are willing to forgive massive AI spending as long as it is accompanied by strong growth.

Fellow “Magnificent Seven” member Tesla lost 3.5% after reporting earnings while Apple is scheduled to post results after the closing bell.

“Microsoft disappointed and there are some genuine concerns that AI investments will eat the software companies’ lunches,” said John Praveen, managing director, Paleo Leon in Princeton, New Jersey.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 55.96 points, or 0.11%, to 49,071.56, the S&P 500 fell 9.02 points, or 0.13%, to 6,969.01 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 172.33 points, or 0.72%, to 23,685.12.

Of the 133 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 74.4% have topped expectations, according to LSEG data, above the 67% beat rate since 1994 but below the 78% over the past four quarters.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe slipped 0.87 point, or 0.08%, to 1,050.80, its first decline after six sessions of gains, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down 0.23% as a drop in technology names outweighed gains in mining and energy stocks due to a 16% plummet in SAP as its cloud revenue forecast fell short of expectations.

“So the momentum is completely out of tech and people are looking elsewhere, right now it’s metals in terms of pure momentum, but if you’re focused on valuation, there’s just a ton of opportunities,” said Jay Hatfield, CEO and CIO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors in New York.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, edged up 0.06% to 96.22, its second straight daily advance after a recent bout of weakness, with the euro up 0.08% at $1.1962.

The dollar was supported in part by Wednesday’s decision by the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged, with Chair Jerome Powell citing a solid economy and lowered risks to both inflation and employment, indicating the central bank could have a long runway before cutting rates again.

U.S. economic data on Thursday showed weekly initial jobless claims fell, indicating layoffs remained low, although soft hiring kept consumers pessimistic about the labor market.

Oil prices surged, with U.S. crude settled up 3.5% to $65.42 a barrel and Brent jumped to settle at $70.71 per barrel, up 3.38% on the day after climbing more than 5% on concerns about possible U.S. military strikes on Iran.

The geopolitical tensions helped keep upward pressure on gold, which hit a record of $5,594.82 an ounce, its ninth straight record high. Gains faded as investors took profits after the run higher. Spot gold was last off 0.18% to $5,389.19 an ounce, but still on pace for its biggest monthly percentage gain since 1980.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, additional reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru, Tom Wilson in London and Wayne Cole in Sydney; Editing byJane Merriman and Andrew Heavens, Kirsten Donovan)