Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. More muddling
The three major U.S. stock indices are coming off another mixed day. The S&P 500 finished Wednesday slightly lower, while the Nasdaq finished slightly higher. The Dow finished in the red. The recent market muddle reflects a mixed beginning to earnings season. While big banks have come through pretty well, other companies have posted middling results. There are tons more earnings to come over the next few weeks, too, as investors also prepare for more signs of a slowdown in the economy. Follow live market updates.
2. 'Stormy weather'
Tesla's quarterly results came in just about in line with what Wall Street was expecting. Automotive revenue jumped 18% year-over-year, but earnings felt the crunch, falling more than 20%. The company blamed a number of factors for deteriorating profit margins: higher material and logistics costs, lower revenue from environmental credits and "underutilization of new factories." Tesla CEO Elon Musk also offered a gloomy outlook for the economy, saying he sees "stormy weather" ahead. "Every time that the Fed raises interest rates, that's the equivalent to an increase in the price of a car," he said. Shares of Tesla fell about 7% in premarket trading.
3. IBM's mixed report
Not bad, IBM. Not great, either, but not bad. After the bell Wednesday, the legacy tech giant reported better earnings than expected, while coming up just shy on revenue. The solid performance on the bottom line reflects recent spending reductions IBM made in its research, development and engineering operations. And the company might not be done cutting, either. "We continue to evaluate additional actions," Chief Financial Officer Jim Kavanaugh told analysts during an earnings call. IBM shares popped around 4% at first, but were about 2% higher during premarket trading Thursday.
4. Toyota broadens EV slate in China
Toyota has taken a more cautious approach to electric vehicle adoption than its prime competitors, leaning more on hybrids and taking a market-by-market approach. The company's strategy is reflected in its latest moves in China, which has become a boom market for EVs thanks to government backing. Toyota this week started taking orders for its first EV sedan in China, and it announced two other models that are expected to hit the country's market next year. Deliveries of the new bZ3 electric sedan, developed in a joint venture with Chinese state-owned automaker FAW, are set to start this year. It's priced at a lower level than Chinese automaker BYD's Han sedan and Tesla's Model 3.
5. The next layoff wave
The layoffs are still coming in certain sectors. Facebook parent Meta, acting on CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "year of efficiency" mandate, this week started its next phase of job cuts, focusing on employees in technical jobs such as in user experience, software engineering and graphics programming. This wave is part of the round of layoffs announced in March, and more are coming next month. Meanwhile, Disney is expected to start its second of three planned rounds of layoffs next week. CNBC's Alex Sherman reports that several of those cuts will be at ESPN. Overall, Disney plans to cut 7,000 jobs by summer as part of a broader restructuring of the company.
– CNBC's Alex Harring, Lora Kolodny, Jordan Novet, Evelyn Cheng, Alex Sherman, Jonathan Vanian and Rohan Goswami contributed to this report.
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