Nvidia, Apple And Tesla Highlight How To Handle The Stock Market Today

Meta Stock Slides On Earnings

Major stock indexes opened lower Thursday as the Dow reacted to key inflation data and braced for late-day earnings reports from Apple (AAPL) and Intel (INTC). Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) were early earnings losers.

After the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6%, as the S&P 500 fell 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite moved down 1.6% in morning trading.

The 10-year Treasury yield ticked higher to 4.28%, tracking toward a seventh weekly advance ahead of Tuesday's election. Oil prices continued to hold just above this week's lows, as West Texas Intermediate futures hovered around $69 per barrel.

Among exchange traded funds, the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) fell 1.6%, as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) declined 1% after the open.

Nvidia, Apple And Tesla Highlight How To Handle The Stock Market Today

Meta Stock Slides On Earnings

Shares of Meta Platforms sold off 2.3% Thursday after the company reported third quarter earnings ahead of expectations, powered by a 19% revenue increase. But Meta stock turned lower as Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg pledged to keep up the company's big spending on artificial intelligence and the metaverse.

Meta stock had pulled back from its highs before finding support around the 10-week line.

Meanwhile, Microsoft topped Wall Street's targets for the software giant's fiscal first quarter on strong cloud computing business. However, Microsoft stock tumbled 5% in early trading after the company guided below views for sales in the current quarter.

Microsoft shares bullishly regained their 50-day line during last week's bounce and are near a handle buy point at 441.85.

Stock Market Today: Early Movers

Elsewhere on the earnings front, Carvana (CVNA), Coinbase Global (COIN), DoorDash (DASH), Ferrari (RACE) and Robinhood Markets (HOOD), along with Mastercard (MA) and Uber Technologies (UBER), were on the move Thursday morning.

Carvana soared 18%, while Coinbase declined 6%. Shares of DoorDash rose 0.5%, while Ferrari inched lower. Robinhood stock dived 14%, as Mastercard moved up 0.5%. Uber skidded 8% in morning action.

The Commerce Department released its monthly personal income and outlays report for September. The core personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index rose rose 0.3% for the month, in line with estimates, with an annual rise of 2.7%, just above the 2.6% estimate. The core PCE price index is the Federal Reserve's favored inflation gauge.

Finally, the Labor Department's initial unemployment claims unexpectedly fell to 216,000 vs. 227,000 in the previous week. They were expected to rise to 235,000.

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Best Stocks To Watch

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.3%. And the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite reversed from new highs to fall 0.6%.

During Wednesday's IBD Live show, the IBD Live team discussed the current trading conditions and how investors should handle the stock market action.

Among the best companies to watch on the stock market today are Costco Wholesale (COST), MercadoLibre (MELI) and On Holding (ONON).

Notable Dow Jones components are Amazon.com (AMZN), Apple, Goldman Sachs (GS) and Microsoft.

Goldman and Tesla were featured in the Stocks Near A Buy Zone column.

There were two new stocks on IBD MarketSurge's "Breaking Out Today" list Wednesday, including Waystar (WAY), which topped a 28.57 flat-base buy point. Check for potential breakouts  on the "Near Pivot" list. To find additional stock ideas, check IBD Stock Lists like IBD 50, Big Cap 20 and Stocks Near A Buy Zone.

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Dow Jones: Goldman Sachs Reclaims Buy Point

Dow Jones financial leader Goldman Sachs regained its 517.26 buy point during this week's gains, according to MarketSurge pattern recognition. Shares edged lower on the stock market today.

Outside the Dow Jones index, Costco is forming a flat base with a 923.83 buy point but it threatens to give up support around the 50-day moving average. Costco stock traded down 0.5% early Thursday.

Online retailer MercadoLibre is working on a flat base with a 2,