S&P500 closes lower to snap record run after Intel brings pain for tech

Investing.com -- The S&P500 slipped Friday, ending its five-day record run, though still ended the week in positive even as Intel's slump left a dent in big tech.

By 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 60 points, or 0.2%, the S&P 500 fell 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4%.

Weak Intel guidance weighs; Western Digital adds to wobble in chips

Tech giant Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)'s disappointing first-quarter guidance sent shares of the chipmaker 12% lower and pressured tech stocks.

While Inte's guidance miss was a negative, there was some reason for optimism, Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn) said, as the weakness wasn't in Intel's core PC and datacenter business and management touted a return to growth this year.

"Intel expressed significant confidence in quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year revenue and EPS growth returning for the remainder of 2024," Deutsche Bank added.

As well as Intel's dump, chip stocks were also dealt a blow by a more than 3% decline in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) despite the memory chip maker's better-than-expected quarterly results and guidance.

Inflation cools ahead of Fed decision next week

The "core" personal consumption expenditures price index, which is the Fed's preferred inflation guage and excludes volatile items like food and fuel, slowed to a 2.9% pace in December, from 3.2% a month earlier, below economists' estimates of 3%.

Further signs of slowing in inflation will likely be welcomed at the Fed as they prepared for the next policy meeting slated for Jan. 30-31.

Consumer spending, which makes up the bulk of economic growth, surprised to the upside, rising 0.7%, well above estimates for a 0.4% rise, underpinning ongoing optimism the Fed's measures to cut inflation are unlikely to push the economy into severe recession.

T-Mobile US misses profit target; American Express , jumps on earnings beat, Visa stutters

The earnings season continued Friday, with T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS) was marginally lower after the wireless carrier missed its profit target for the fourth quarter, even as it forecast monthly bill-paying phone subscriber growth for the year above estimates, banking on its wide 5G coverage and promotional offers to draw in consumers.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) stock rose 7% after the credit card giant beat full-year profit expectations, even as it raised its loan loss provisions, bracing for a jump in potential loan defaults.

It's main rival, on the other hand, Visa (NYSE:V) stock fell 1.7% after it offered up tepid second-quarter sales guidance, with the world's largest payments processor forecasting an uptick in the "upper mid- to high single-digit" in net revenue during its current period -- implying a slowdown from the 11% increase posted in the corresponding period in 2023.

(Peter Nurse continued to this report.)

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This article first appeared in Investing.com