The stock market closed mixed on Thursday, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropping sharply. This was mainly due to selling pressure in technology and semiconductor stocks amid AI concerns.
Overall, S&P 500 fell 1.2% to 7,663, while Nasdaq slid 2.6% to 26,009.
Chart of the Day
Here is the ten-year chart of Meta Platforms (META) as of August 4, 2026, when the stock was at $590.
Last quarter, Meta Platforms reported strong revenue growth, though rising costs weighed on profits. Profits declined 13% year on year, as expenses grew 55% compared to 28% revenue growth. Revenue growth was driven by resilient digital advertising demand, higher ad impressions, improved ad pricing, and sustained platform engagement.
However, profitability faced near-term headwinds as the company accelerated spending on AI infrastructure, including large-scale data center expansion, computing capacity, and AI model development.
As Meta Platforms continues to invest aggressively in AI infrastructure, capital expenditures (CapEx) were ~50% of revenue last quarter. While management highlighted AI spending as a long-term growth driver, elevated CapEx levels weighed on investor sentiment.
During the past year, META stock has been on a downward trend, declining from ~$800 to ~$600. The company is building a Cloud business to sell AI computing, like Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL) do, and has a new venture with BlackRock to develop a 1 gigawatt datacenter in Texas.
META is part of the Growth Portfolio and the Focus List.
