US stock markets returned to their winning ways with all three benchmarks finishing higher, led by the Dow Jones and S&P 500 which were 0.4% to the positive.
The Nasdaq was weaker, adding just 0.1%, as the tech earnings season rolled on with some concern about forecasts.
That said, analysts were happy with the US GDP result of 6.5%, particularly given the stronger than expected consumer spending.
Facebook tumbles
Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) shares continued to fall, down over 4%, as signs that the group’s user growth was beginning to slow, up just 7% to US$2.9 billion for the quarter.
That said, the advertising-led platform reported a 56% increase in sales to US$29 billion as companies seek to expand again.
PayPal stock struggles
There were signs that Paypal’s (NASDAQ: PYPL) entry into the BNPL space was an effort to remain relevant, with profit beating forecast but quarterly sales of US$6.24 billion weaker than expected.
Management cited its previous owner Ebay’s decision to take control of their own payments going forward as a key detractor. PayPal stock finished 6.2% lower.
Amazon reports
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) reported a 50% increase in quarterly earnings to US$7.78 billion, but flagged a ‘slowing’ in sales growth from 40% to 27% going forward.
Online sales grew a meagre 13%, advertising 83% and cloud computing another 37%. Amazon stock was down 7% after hours.
Robinhood IPO
Robin Hood may have been the story of 2020, with the user-friendly platform gamifying share trading, but its IPO debut fell flat, falling 8% overnight.
Under the ticker HOOD, the company was valued at around US$29 billion by the time the market closed.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks performed on Thursday.
- Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) up 6.0%
- Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) up 4.7%
- Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) up 4.5%
- Uber (NYSE: UBER) down 3.1%
- Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) down 6.0%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is expected to follow US markets higher at the open on Friday. For all the latest, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.