Markets Fall Back on Fed Cut - Big Earnings After the Close

Monetary Policy Impact - The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) cut interest rates by 25 basis points to a range of $3.75-4.00 for the first time in three years, causing major stock indexes to fall into negative territory [1][7] - Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated that future rate cuts are not guaranteed and will be data-driven, despite market assumptions of another cut in December [2][3] Earnings Reports Overview - Microsoft (MSFT) reported earnings of $4.13 per share on revenues of $77.67 billion, exceeding estimates of $3.65 per share and $74.96 billion, with Azure Cloud revenue growing by 40% year over year [4] - Alphabet (GOOGL) saw shares rise by 6% after reporting earnings of $2.87 per share, surpassing the $2.26 estimate, with revenues of $87.47 billion, better than the $84.96 billion forecast [5] - Meta Platforms (META) reported earnings of $7.25 per share on revenues of $51.24 billion, exceeding the $6.61 estimate and $49.45 billion forecast, with daily active users reaching 3.54 billion [6] - ServiceNow (NOW) shares increased by 3% after reporting earnings of $4.82 per share on revenues of $3.41 billion, both surpassing expectations [8] - Starbucks (SBUX) missed earnings expectations by 3 cents per share, reporting 52 cents, but revenues of $9.6 billion exceeded the $9.33 billion forecast [8]