The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 400 points Thursday morning, along with sharp declines in the Nasdaq and S&P 500, after Microsoft’s weaker-than-expected earnings reports (MSFT-5.41%) and Meta (META-3.76%). super microcomputer (SMCI-13.35%) The stock continued to fall afterwards the resignation of Ernst & Young, the company’s auditor, and now it’s in front of you possible delisting from Nasdaq

Stocks from crypto-friendly companies like Coinbase (COIN-9.53%), MicroStrategy (MSTR-0.22%) and Robinhood (HOOD-14.80%) also slipped after releasing their earnings a day earlier.

The Dow Jones lost 426 points, or 1.04%, in mid-morning trading, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 440 points, or 2.3%. The S&P 500 lost 1.4%.

Meta shares fell about 3% in Thursday morning trading, while Microsoft shares fell more than 5%.

Positive news on the economic front included a sharp decline in initial jobless claims in the U.S. to a five-month low, pointing to a robust labor market. The Ministry of Labor reported this on Thursday that initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 216,000 in the week ending Oct. 26, beating economists’ expectations of 230,000 claims.

And inflation continues to cool as the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index – the Fed’s preferred inflation indicator – posted a 2.1% year-over-year increase in September, compared to 2.3% in August Data was released on Thursday. This inflation slowdown, which came close to the Fed’s target of 2% annual inflation, was a hopeful sign for consumers and the Fed alike as it plans to further cut interest rates.

Investors will be watching Apple (AAPL-1.31%) and Amazon (AMZN-3.10%) Win after the final bell.

What to expect from Apple earnings

Apple’s (AAPL-1.31%) Thursday’s fourth-quarter report will provide the first glimpse of sales since Apple introduced its latest iPhone range And new artificial intelligence functionsknown as Apple Intelligenceat its annual event in early September – and Wall Street is expecting a strong quarter of year-over-year growth.

Analysts expect Apple to post earnings per share of $1.60 for its fiscal fourth quarter, according to estimates from FactSetFDS+0.67%). Net income is expected to reach $24.24 billion, which would represent growth of more than 5% compared to the same period last year.

Apple had a strong year overall. Its shares are up about 25% year-to-date, narrowly outperforming the S&P 500 index.

What to expect from Amazon earnings

Amazon is expected to report third-quarter results on Thursday Expectations slightly missed in the last quarter.

According to analyst estimates compiled by FactSet, the retail and cloud giant will report revenue of $157.3 billion for the quarter ending in September. Amazon is expected to report earnings per share (EPS) of $1.14. Last quarter, the company issued lower-than-expected third-quarter guidance, setting revenue expectations between $154 billion and $158.5 billion — or between 8% and 11% year-over-year growth.

In the second quarter, Amazon reported sales of $148 billion — up 10% from a year ago, but still below expectations of $148.7 billion, according to FactSet. However, the company reported second-quarter net income of $13.5 billion, above expectations of $11 billion.

Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud computing division, reported revenue of $26.3 billion, up 19% from a year earlier.

– Rocio Fabbro and Britney Nguyen contributed to this article.