U.S. futures fall as Alphabet, Tesla earnings disappoint

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

Waiting game
Wall Street closed slightly below the break-even mark ahead of earnings from technology megacaps. The S&P 500 slipped 0.16% a day after its best performance since early June. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.06% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.14%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was little changed, while U.S. oil prices fell to their lowest levels in six weeks. Nasdaq futures fell after Alphabet and Tesla reported earnings.

Tesla auto revenue drops
Tesla‘s second-quarter earnings fell short of expectations as automotive sales declined for the second consecutive quarter. Its adjusted operating margin shrank to a three-year low due to increased expenses on AI infrastructure for self-driving cars and price cuts to combat declining sales. CEO Elon Musk said Telsa will unveil its robotaxi on Oct. 10, two months later than planned. Musk also posted a poll on X asking whether Tesla should invest $5 billion into his newest startup, xAI. Tesla’s stock dropped nearly 8% in extended trading. 

Youtube ad miss
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported second-quarter results largely in line with expectations, but YouTube advertising revenue disappointed. Overall revenue grew 14% year-over-year, driven by search and cloud, which surpassed $10 billion in quarterly revenues and $1 billion in operating profit for the first time. YouTube’s ad revenue fell short of estimates amid increased competition from platforms like TikTok. CFO Ruth Porat said the company is committing a new $5 billion multiyear investment in Waymo. Alphabet shares dipped 2% in after-hours trading.

GM skids
General Motors‘ beat second-quarter earnings estimates but shares fell 6% as it restructures its struggling autonomous vehicles and Chinese business. GM also said it is slowing plans for all-electric vehicles. Analysts expressed concern that GM’s earnings may have peaked. Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas warned that historical trends suggest the current positive performance may not be sustainable. RBC Capital Markets’ Tom Narayan highlighted GM’s expectation that second-half earnings will be $2.5 billion lower than in the first half.

Asia decline, EV makers slide
Markets in the Asia-Pacific region fell after lacklustre earnings from Alphabet and Tesla. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.62%, led by Chinese EV makers. Hong Kong-listed shares of Xpeng and Nio tumbled more than 5% each. Mainland China’s CSI 300 dipped 0.6%. Japan’s export-heavy Nikkei 225 fell 1% even as business activity returned to growth. South Korea’s Kospi and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell, while Taiwan’s market was closed due to a typhoon. 

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While former President Donald Trump is gaining popularity among cryptocurrency enthusiasts and billionaires, it can’t go unnoticed that the Biden administration has enabled investors to trade bitcoin and ether through an increasing number of exchange-traded funds.

Ether ETFs officially began trading in the U.S. on Tuesday, marking a significant milestone for the cryptocurrency. The overall response has been more subdued compared with the debut of bitcoin ETFs earlier this year, which saw over $16 billion in net inflows.

“We think it’ll be about 20% as many flows will go into the ether ETF in the first six months that went into bitcoin [ETFs],” Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, said in a “Squawk Box” interview. Still, he said it is a significant development for crypto.

Samara Cohen, BlackRock ETF & Index Investments CIO, underscored the technological difference between the two cryptocurrencies. “Bitcoin has gotten a lot of attention by people calling it digital gold,” Cohen told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “It may take more time for people to understand the applications of ethereum.”

“While bitcoin is really known for its scarcity, its 21 million finite supply, ether is a totally different use case. Ether is known for its utility; it is a programmable blockchain designed to let developers build decentralized applications on the blockchain ecosystem.”

“For people like us, who are really interested in what the next phase of markets will look like and the possibility to deploy new technology to create innovative use cases and applications, this is a really important space to watch in ethereum.”

Ether may be one for the future, but investors were also focused on corporate earnings which are off to a strong start. About 20% of S&P 500 companies have posted second-quarter results, with 80% of those names beating expectations, FactSet data shows.

Analysts at Wolfe Research are hoping earnings from the so-called Magnificent Seven could “spark” a meaningful upward trend. “In our view, a batch of better-than-expected reports could potentially stem the current selloff and spark a forceful bounce,” according to Wolfe Research.

Well, that “forceful bounce” may be some way off, with both Tesla and Alphabet delivering disappointing figures after the closing bell. You can read more on the stocks making the biggest moves in after-hours trading here

— CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Tanaya Macheel, Jennifer Elias, Lora Kolodny, Samantha Subin, Alex Harring, Fred Imbert, Spencer Kimball, Sheila Chiang, Weizhen Tan and Lim Hui Jie contributed to this report.