FMC plunges 33% on lower quarterly earnings forecast

Uber declines after directing Q1 reservations below quotes

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Indexes: Dow up 0.15%, S&P 500 down 0.08%, Nasdaq down 0.34%

(Updates with afternoon prices)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta

Feb 5 (Reuters) -

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq slipped on Wednesday, with Alphabet the most significant drag after the tech giant’s ugly cloud income and large financial investments into expert system disappointed investors, while a slew of revenues contributed to the volatility.

Google-parent Alphabet dropped 8.2% after publishing downbeat cloud earnings growth and earmarking a higher-than-expected $75 billion for its AI buildout this year.

“The marketplace has some proof to suggest that there are other companies that potentially doing it more affordable, much better, quicker, quicker,” said Dave Grecsek, managing director in planning technique and research at Aspiriant.

“So what is the wisdom of continuing to maintain high capex?”

AI-related stocks were rocked recently following the skyrocketing popularity of an affordable Chinese synthetic intelligence design developed by startup

DeepSeek

. Nvidia, among the business that was the worst hit, was up 3.8% on the day.

Advanced Micro Devices, meanwhile, lost 8.9% after CEO Lisa Su said the business’s current-quarter data center sales - a proxy for its AI earnings - would fall about 7% from the previous quarter.

On the data front, U.S. services sector activity unexpectedly slowed in January in the middle of cooling demand, helping curb cost development, a reading from the Institute for Supply Management revealed.

Private payrolls increased by 183,000 tasks last month, compared to an approximated 150,000 increase, per economists polled by Reuters. The January nonfarm payrolls report is anticipated to be launched on Friday.

Shares of Apple reduced 1.2% as Bloomberg News reported that China’s antitrust regulator was getting ready for a possible examination of the iPhone maker.

At 11:33 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.83 points, or 0.15%, to 44,621.87, the S&P 500 lost 4.37 points, or 0.08%, to 6,033.51 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 70.17 points, or 0.34%, to 19,586.61.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors traded higher, though communication services’ over 3% fall obscured gains.

Uber Technologies dropped 7.2% after the ride-hailing business forecast current-quarter bookings listed below estimates.

Fiserv advanced 7.1% as the payments company beat estimates for fourth-quarter revenue, assisted by strong demand in its banking and payments processing system.

Markets likewise looked for advancements on the tariffs front after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he remained in no hurry to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping to attempt to pacify a new trade war between the nations.

Richmond Fed president Thomas Barkin said the Fed was still leaning towards more rate cuts this year, however flagged uncertainty around the impact of new tariffs, immigration, regulations and other Trump administration initiatives.

Among top movers, FMC Corp plunged 33.6% after the agrichemicals manufacturer projection first-quarter profits listed below quotes.

Johnson Controls jumped 11.1% as the building services company called Joakim Weidemanis as primary executive officer and raised its 2025 revenue projection.

Advancing issues surpassed decliners by a 2.03-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.6-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 published 27 new 52-week highs and forum.pinoo.com.tr 12 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite tape-recorded 81 new highs and iuridictum.pecina.cz 69 brand-new lows.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru