S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures fall as traders weigh Microsoft, Alphabet results: Live

Stock futures were under pressure in early trading as a more than 6% decline in Alphabet shares pressured the broader market. The tech giant’s third-quarter earnings and revenue beat expectations. However, weakness in its cloud business sent the stock lower.

Australia’s consumer price index registered a 5.4% increase year-on-year for the third quarter, higher than the 5.3% expected by a Reuters poll, but lower than the 6% recorded in the second quarter.

This is the third straight quarter that the inflation rate has fell and comes ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy decision on Nov. 3.

The country’s statistics bureau said that inflation in the third quarter was led by rises in the price of automotive fuel, which rose 7.2%. This was followed by prices of electricity and rents, which climbed 4.2% and 2.2% year on year respectively.

— Lim Hui Jie

China on Tuesday took steps toward easing financing conditions for local governments, which have been at the crux of recent economic difficulties.

The central government said it formalized a process allowing local governments to borrow funds for the year ahead — starting in the preceding fourth quarter, according to an announcement published by state media.

On Tuesday, Chinese authorities also announced the issuance of 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) in government bonds for natural disaster relief, according to state media. Xinhua, the official state news agency, also pointed out the deficit would increase to 3.8% from 3%.

Earlier on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first known visit to the People’s Bank of China since taking the top leadership role. CNBC was not able to independently confirm the report.

Futures for China stocks were up across the board, with that of Hong Kong-traded stocks up by about 2.5% or more as of Tuesday evening, according to Wind Information data.

— Evelyn Cheng

Michael Townsend, managing director of legislative and regulatory affairs at Charles Schwab, said Tuesday that he wouldn’t be surprised if the U.S. federal government shuts down next month, but that Wall Street would likely shrug it off like it has in prior years.

“I’m not really worried about how the market will react if we do have a shutdown,” Townsend said at Schwab’s Impact conference in Philadelphia.

Townsend’s comments came shortly after Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota dropped his bid for Speaker of the House. The continued failure to find a Speaker means that Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina could end up getting some temporary powers in order to help Congress operate, Townsend said.

The Schwab expert also said that the federal deficit is becoming a bigger factor in markets due to higher interest rates but that there is not urgency in Washington to address the budget shortfall in a significant way.

“The changes in spending that even Republicans are talking about are tiny drops in the bucket compared to these big issues,” Townsend said.

— Jesse Pound

Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading.

Microsoft — Shares jumped 2.5% after the maker of Windows software and Xbox video games reported fiscal first-quarter results that topped analysts’ estimates. Microsoft posted earnings per share of $2.99 on $56.52 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, analysts had forecast EPS of $2.65 on $54.50 billion in revenue, according to LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv. Microsoft’s profit jumped due to slower operating expense growth, as well as better-than-expected revenue from its Azure cloud segment. 

Alphabet — The Google and YouTube parent fell more than 6% despite beating analysts’ estimates on both top and bottom lines in the third quarter. Revenue growth reaccelerated to 11% from the previous quarter, the first time revenue reached double digits in four quarters. However, revenue from Google Cloud came in at $8.41 billion, well below consensus estimates of $8.64 billion, according to StreetAccount. 

Snap — Snapchat’s parent inched higher after its third-quarter results. Snap posted earnings of 2 cents per share on revenue of $1.19 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had estimated a loss of 4 cents per share on revenue of $1.11 billion. CEO Evan Spiegel highlighted a return to sales growth during the quarter. Shares had initially surged as high as 20% in postmarket trading, before reversing gains as investors processed news that some advertisers had paused spending after the onset of the Israel-Hamas war.  

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

U.S. stock futures made just slight moves Tuesday night.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 40 points, or 0.1%.

Meanwhile, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures ticked down 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.

— Hakyung Kim