| Advertisement |
April 27 (UPI) -- U.S. markets closed mostly flat in a volatile day of trading as investors awaited earnings from Facebook parent Meta. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 61.75 points, or 0.19%, and the S&P 500 rose 0.21%. The Nasdaq Composite closed the day down 0.01% after declining 3.95% on Tuesday to fall into bear market territory while reaching its lowest level since December 2020.
Advertisement
Meta shared mixed results in the first quarter as its earnings per share fell 17.9% from the same period last year to $2.72 but beat analysts' expectations, while its revenue rose 6.6% but fell short of analysts' forecasts at $27.9 billion.
The company also reported a 4% increase in daily active users across the board after reporting a loss of 1 million Facebook users in the fourth quarter.
Shares of Meta fell 3.32% in regular trading but surged upward more than 15% after the bell following the release.
Microsoft stock rose 4.81% and Visa stock gained 6.47% after both companies posted better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday.
Conversely, shares of Google parent Alphabet dropped 3.67% and Boeing fell 7.53% after both missed Wall Street expectations.
Markets were also weighed down Wednesday by ongoing concerns about COVID-19 spikes in China and the Federal Reserve's plans to tighten its monetary policy, as the central bank prepares for its May meeting.
Matt Stucky, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management senior portfolio manager, told Yahoo Finance that markets are pricing a funds policy rate of about 2.7% by the end of the year, contributing to market volatility.
"The wall of worry has been building, as it relates to Fed worries," Stucky said. "Just a little over three months ago the futures market was pricing in just three or four interest rate hikes for all of 2022. We're quite a bit above that now."
Amid the big picture concerns the Nasdaq Composite has fallen 12.2% so far for the month of April while the S&P 500 is down 7.7% and the Dow has declined 4%.
