Nasdaq futures drop amid Netflix, Tesla earnings

July 20, 2023 (MLN): A slide in tech behemoths soured the mood on Thursday, while the escalating conflict over Ukrainian grain exports prompted traders to temper relief over easing inflation, as Bloomberg reported.

Futures on the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.7% as investors digested Netflix Inc.’s missed sales estimates and disappointing third-quarter forecast. Tesla Inc. also fell after profitability shrank in the second quarter, a sign the electric vehicle maker’s margins are being squeezed.

The tech-heavy gauge has climbed 45% this year, outpacing the S&P 500’s 19% rise, on excitement about the potential for artificial intelligence.

ASML Holding NV led a selloff in European tech stocks after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. cut its outlook, signaling an enduring global electronics slump that also put excitement over AI into perspective.

At the same time, relief that inflation has been tamed was marred by a spike in commodities on the escalating conflict over Ukrainian grain exports. Wheat prices extended their biggest daily surge in a decade on Wednesday after Russia warned that any ships to Ukraine would be seen as carrying arms.

British consumer price pressures dropped to the lowest in 15 months, spurring gains in stocks for the nation that stands out among developed economies for its intractable inflation.

Meanwhile, speculation that the Federal Reserve hiking cycle may have peaked sent the dollar lower against all of its Group-of-10 counterparts as a gauge of the greenback extended its month-to-date weakness to more than 6%.

The offshore yuan advanced 0.7% against the dollar and was the best-performing currency in Asia after the People’s Bank of China stepped in Thursday, setting its daily fixing of the yuan with the largest bias since November.

China’s efforts to revive growth, from cutting rates to closing out a regulatory crackdown on tech firms, have so far done little to support growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

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