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Auto stocks pop on report UAW nearing a deal with Ford

The United Auto Workers are "edging closer" to a deal with Ford, according to the Associated Press.

The deal would end a 6-week long strike and includes a 25% general wage increase over the course of the new contract, per AP. The Big Three automakers had previously offered 23%.

According to AP, a Ford deal could be used to help broker deals with GM and Stellantis, too. All three stocks rose on the news.

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S&P 500 dips below key level

The S&P 500 broke below its 200-day moving average at 4235 and fell lower than 4200 on Wednesday afternoon, a key level that stocks had held over the recent downturn.

In a research note on Monday, Truist Co-CIO Keith Lerner noted that a dip below the 200 day moving average wouldn't be a surprise.

"A temporary downside overshoot below this area would not be unusual, such as what occurred in March. The next support below this level for the S&P 500 is roughly 4050 (+/- 50 points)," Lerner wrote. "The 4050 area represents the April/May lows, roughly a 50% retracement of the uptrend seen since the lows of last October."

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is down just more than 0.1%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) is off nearly 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) has fallen almost 2%.

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Boeing trims 737 max forecast, maintains cash flow guidance

Boeing (BA) shares are slightly above the flat line after the company cut its forecast for the popular 737 max.

Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian reports:

For the quarter, Boeing reported top-line revenue of $18.10 billion, missing the Street's estimate of $18.16 billion. The company reported an adjusted loss per share of $3.26, wider than the $2.95 loss expected. Boeing’s Q2 revenue figure was 13% higher than a year ago.

Boeing said results were impacted by “unfavorable defense performance and lower 737 deliveries.”

"We continue to progress in our recovery and despite near-term challenges, we remain on track to meet the financial goals we set for this year and for the long term,” said Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun in the earnings release. "We are focused on driving stability in our supply chain and improving operational performance as we steadily increase production rates to meet strong demand."

Boeing said it now expects to deliver 375-400 737 Max jets this year, down from the 400-450 deliveries it projected earlier. Boeing plans for the 737 Max final assembly to rise to 38 planes per month by year-end, with a goal to reach 50 planes per month by 2025/2026.

Boeing identified a supplier issue that impacted production of the 737 Max, though it is not an immediate safety issue, the company said in a statement.

Boeing however maintained its 2023 free cash flow forecast of $3 billion-$5 billion, and operating cash flow of $4.5 billion-$6.5 billion.

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Apple hikes prices on some subscription services

Apple (AAPL) is raising the prices of some of its subscription services, including streaming platform Apple TV+, in the US and select international markets beginning Wednesday.

The company quietly announced the changes on its website, which revealed Apple TV+ will now cost $9.99, up from the prior $6.99. Apple TV+ originally cost $4.99 when it first launched in November 2019.

Apple Arcade and Apple News+ will each go up by $2 and $3, respectively, to $6.99 and $12.99.

As a result of the changes, Apple One, which bundles up to six Apple subscriptions for one monthly price, also saw its tiered prices increase.

The Individual plan will now cost $19.95 a month, up from $16.99, while the Family plan will be $25.95 — up from the prior $22.95. The Premier plan went up by $5 to a new monthly price of $37.95.

Existing subscribers will see these price increases 30 days later, on their next renewal date.

Apple raised the prices on a slew of its subscription services last year, hiking the monthly costs of Apple TV+, Apple One and Apple Music. Wednesday's announcement did not include price hikes to Apple Music or its fitness subscription plans.

"We are focused on delivering the best experiences possible for our customers by consistently adding high-quality entertainment, content, and innovative features to our services," Apple said in a statement provided to Yahoo Finance.

Apple hikes prices on some subscription services

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Big tech's divergent earnings

Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) stocks are headed in opposite directions after reporting quarterly earnings on Tuesday night.

At the surface, Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud surpassed Wall Street's expectations while Alphabet's cloud unit disappointed. But for investors, the focus remains on how artificial intelligence is driving growth within those businesses.

On the company's earnings call Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is seeing "a lot of interest in AI" for the cloud segment but revenue growth for the business area continued to slow down sequentially in Q3.

Meanwhile, at Microsoft, cloud revenue grew sequentially with management attributing 3 percentage points of growth directly to AI.

"Some of the improvements, we're making in Azure and even in Microsoft 365 gross margins, even in the core of the commercial cloud, it speaks to the pace at which we are delivering AI revenue with the increasing cost expense and capital investment ahead with the demand we see," Microsoft CFO Amy Hood told investors on an earnings call.

Both Microsoft and Google attributed increased capital expenditures to AI, but it was Microsoft's ability to directly attribute revenue to AI that excited Wall Street analysts.

"The trend is now your friend," wrote Evercore ISI's Kirk Materne. "AI-Powered Azure acceleration highlights strong [fiscal first quarter] and the AI story only gets stronger in [the calendar year] 2024."

Microsoft shares rose more than 4% on Wednesday morning while Alphabet declined more than 8%.

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Big Tech leads Nasdaq lower at the open

Stocks largely slipped on Wednesday as investors digested mixed earnings reports from Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), with more quarterly results set to flow in.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) popped more than 0.2%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) dropped more than 1%.

Alphabet shares slid more than 8% after the Google parent beat on earnings and revenue but fell short in its cloud business. By contrast, Microsoft stock popped almost 4% after its own double beat showed its bets on AI were paying off for its cloud segment.

Alphabet (GOOG): The Google parent company saw its share price drop 6%. As Yahoo Finance’s Howley reported, the company's earnings highlighted a poor showing in the company's cloud business.

T-Mobile (TMUS): Shares in the company were up 2% after it raised the lower end of its annual free cash flow forecast as quarterly subscriber additions topped estimates.

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Stock futures mostly fall after Alphabet's cloud disappointment

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 were set to open lower Wednesday as investors digested diverging cloud-business performance in Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet's earnings reports.

Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) were 0.56% lower, while those on the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 0.33%. But Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) futures were up 0.13%, or 43 points.