Traders work on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on January 10, 2025 in New York City.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
This report comes from today's CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open keeps investors updated on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
Nasdaq still lags other major indexes
this S&P 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Tuesday, but Nasdaq Composite Index The pullback made it a second straight day of underperformance. European Stoxx 600 Index It fell 0.08%, giving up earlier gains. blood pressure The oil major said fourth-quarter profit would fall by $300 million due to weak refining margins, sending its shares down 2.5%.
Meta lays off employees, Microsoft freezes hiring
Yuan CNBC confirmed on Tuesday that the company will lay off about 5% of its lowest-performing employees. CEO Mark Zuckerberg informed employees of the decision in a memo posted on an internal company forum on Tuesday. respectively, Microsoft The company plans to pause hiring at some of its U.S. consulting operations, according to an internal memo.
SEC sues Musk over Twitter stock issues
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Tuesday, accusing the billionaire of securities fraud in 2022 by failing to disclose his ownership in Twitter and buying stock at an "artificially low price." Before Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, his stake in the company exceeded 5%, which requires him to disclose his holdings to the public within 10 calendar days of reaching that threshold.
Producer price growth slows
U.S. producer prices rose 0.2% in December, according to a Tuesday report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was below November's 0.4% gain and the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 0.4%. On an annual basis, the overall producer price index rose 3.3% in 2024, up from a 1.1% gain in 2023.
Dollar strength winners and losers
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, hit its highest level in more than two years on Monday after a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report last week. Here are Europe's biggest winners and losers from the dollar's surge, analysts say.
(PRO) Nasdaq Selloff Minor Correction?
On Tuesday, the Nasdaq Composite fell for a fifth straight day. However, some wealth managers said this could be a minor correction in the market rather than the start of a downturn. They explain why they're not too worried about a sell-off.
The market’s technical rout isn’t over yet.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.23%, underperforming the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (up 0.11% and 0.52%, respectively) for the second consecutive day. All seven major stocks fell, with Meta, Tesla and NVIDIA Record the largest losses in order.
The decline in tech stocks was accompanied by news of layoffs and hiring freezes, adding to the industry's woes.
In order to reduce expenses, Microsoft will suspend hiring in some consulting departments, reduce travel expenses and cut marketing expenses, according to an internal memo.
Meta, meanwhile, announced in an internal memo on Tuesday that it would "retire approximately 5% of its lowest-performing employees." (Just like one “opts out” of fact-checking or “in” free speech, I suppose.) Zuckerberg also warned employees that 2025 would be an “intense year.”
Of course, Zuckerberg's warning was directed at Meta, but it could also apply to tech companies that are trying to make significant investments in artificial intelligence but don't necessarily have the revenue to justify such high capital expenditures.
However, there are signs of optimism about the business environment this year as we enter fourth-quarter earnings season.
"We do think earnings are going to be stronger," said Jay Hatfield, founder of Infrastructure Capital Advisors.
"The economy is strong in the fourth quarter. Typically, companies know by then if they have a problem, they're probably going to be very optimistic about the future because the Trump administration is pro-business. So we think most CEOs The forecast for 2025 is very optimistic.”
Perhaps optimistic CEOs are leading other industries, as Tuesday's move away from technology and toward utilities, financials and materials suggests.
Whether this industry rotation continues will depend on the Consumer Price Index, which is set to fall later today.
—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han, Hakyung Kim and Brian Evans contributed to this report.