Pre-Bell | US Futures Little Changed; Alphabet Soars 9%; Meta Platforms Declines 9%; Microsoft Drops 2%; Rare Earth Stocks Jump, Critical Metals and UAMY up 10%

Stock futures were little changed Thursday as investors digested a batch of Big Tech earnings. Losses were kept in check after a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded.

Market Snapshot

At 8:05 a.m. ET, Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 137 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures, along with Nasdaq-100 futures, were flat.

Pre-Market Movers

Microsoft fell 2% in the premarket session. The software company and the second-most valuable U.S. corporation, which finished Wednesday with a market cap of $4.025 trillion, reported fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings of $4.13 a share, better than Wall Street consensus of $3.67. Revenue was $77.7 billion, ahead of analysts' expectations of $75.4 billion, while Azure revenue rose by 40%, higher than forecasts of 38% growth. CEO Satya Nadella said the company's total AI capacity would grow by more than 80% this year with its data center footprint doubling over the next two years.

Shares of Alphabet jumped 9% after the parent company of search giant Google reported a jump of 16% in third-quarter revenue on growth in its digital-advertising and cloud-computing businesses. Revenue was a record $102.3 billion, better than Wall Street expectations, and net income rose 33% from a year earlier to nearly $35 billion. Alphabet raised its estimates for capital expenditures this year, largely for AI investments, to a range of $91 billion to $93 billion, up from $52.5 billion in 2024.

Meta Platforms missed analysts' third-quarter earnings expectations and the stock declined 9% in premarket trading. Meta said the earnings miss included a one-time tax charge of $15.93 billion from the implementation of the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Excluding the charge, earnings would have been $7.25 a share, better than forecasts of $6.72. The owner of Facebook and Instagram reported a revenue increase in the period of 26% from a year earlier to $51.24 billion. Meta said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of between $56 billion and $59 billion, about what analysts expected. The company said capital expenditures related to AI likely would increase significantly next year.

Rare earth stocks rose in premarket trading on Thursday. CRITICAL METALS CORPORATION, United States Antimony rose 10%; USA Rare Earth Inc. rose 6%; MP Materials Corp. rose 5%.

Nvidia fell 0.3% after the chip maker and most valuable company in the U.S. finished up 3% on Wednesday at $207.04, a record high, and closed the session with a market capitalization of $5.03 trillion. Nvidia, the first company on record to reach a market value of $5 trillion, has been lifted this week by comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who said demand for the company's artificial-intelligence chips has been "exceptionally strong."

Apple, which closed Wednesday with a market cap of $4.002 trillion, rose 0.7% ahead of the release of the iPhone maker's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings after the closing bell Thursday, while Amazon fell 0.7% with the world's largest online retailer scheduled to report third-quarter numbers.

Roblox Corporation on Thursday raised its annual bookings forecast for the third time this year on the back of strong in-game spending on viral titles such as "Steal a Brainrot" that also helped it surpass 150 million daily active users. Shares of the gaming platform fell 2% in premarket trading.

ServiceNow reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations and raised its full-year subscription guidance. Shares of the digital-workflow software company, which announced it would be splitting its stock 5-for-1, rose 3% ahead of Thursday's opening bell.

FMC Corp. sank 30% after the ag sciences company reduced its quarterly dividend by 86% to 8 cents a share from 58 cents. FMC said it cut its dividend to "further prioritize debt reduction."

Starbucks fell 3.4% after the coffeehouse chain reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings that fell short of expectations, although the company's same-store sales finally turned positive.

Carvana, the car dealer best known for its auto vending machines, beat third-quarter earnings expectations on record revenue of $5.65 billion and number of cars sold in the period. It was Carvana's third-consecutive quarter of revenue growth, with the number of cars sold reaching 155,941, up 44% from a year earlier and better than analysts' forecasts. Carvana said it expects sales trends to continue into the end of the year, forecasting retail units sold above 150,000 in the fourth quarter. The stock, however, tumbled 8.5%.

Chipotle Mexican Grill posted third-quarter earnings and revenue in line with analysts' estimates, but the burrito chain tumbled 17% after lowering its same-store sales outlook for the full year.

Shares in eBay were down 9% after the online marketplace topped Wall Street's earnings and revenue estimates, but issued a weaker-than-expected profit forecast for the fourth quarter.

Market News

OpenAI Lays Groundwork for Juggernaut IPO at up to $1 Trillion Valuation

OpenAI is laying the groundwork for an initial public offering that could value the company at up to $1 trillion, three people familiar with the matter said, in what could be one of the biggest IPOs of all time.

OpenAI is considering filing with securities regulators as soon as the second half of 2026, some of the people said. In preliminary discussions, the company has looked at raising $60 billion at the low end and likely more, the people said. They cautioned that talks are early and plans - including the figures and timing - could change depending on business growth and market conditions.

Eli Lilly Raises Forecasts on Surging Demand for Weight-Loss Drugs

Eli Lilly raised its full-year profit and revenue forecasts on Thursday as strong appetite for its widely popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro helped it blow past third-quarter earnings estimates.

Shares of the company, the world's largest healthcare firm by market capitalization, jumped 4% in premarket trading.