EMEA Morning Briefing: Disappointing U.S. Tech -2-

Apple, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet Inc. all reported December quarter results Thursday afternoon that showed the effects of the weakening global economy across most of the companies' diverse business lines. These include online advertising, cloud-computing services, e-commerce and tech gadgets such as smartphones, laptops and smartwatches. These are big businesses, totaling nearly $1.2 trillion in revenue for the three companies in 2022.

Meta Platforms Shares Surge 23% on Cost Cuts, Stock Buyback

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. shares soared to their best day in nearly a decade after the company embraced investor-friendly moves including boosting its stock through a $40 billion buyback and cutting expenses in the face of increased competition.

Shares of the social-media company closed Thursday up 23% to $188.87 and are up 57% year to date. The stock recorded its largest percentage increase since July 2013, when it rose nearly 30%.

Google Parent Alphabet Posts Drop in Ad Revenue Amid Slowdown

Google reported its first drop in advertising revenue since the beginning of the pandemic, as a slowdown in online marketing continues to weigh on the search giant's business.

Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, reported $59 billion in advertising revenue for the fourth quarter, a decrease of 3.6% from the same period in 2021. Those results marked the second time ad sales fell since Google became a publicly traded company in 2004.

Apple Sales Shrink as Pandemic Rally Ends for iPhone Maker, Other Tech Giants

Apple Inc. reported disappointing quarterly results that ended its three-year streak of sales and profit records, capping an earnings season in which the world's biggest technology companies mostly struggled to shake off a postpandemic hangover.

The iPhone maker announced its first quarterly revenue decline in nearly four years as manufacturing disruptions in China curbed its ability to deliver premium iPhones. Its results came the same day that Amazon.com Inc. reported growth that, while beating expectations, nonetheless concerned investors, because of slowdowns in its online shopping and cloud computing businesses, and Google parent Alphabet Inc. said it was hit by a broad slowdown in the digital ad market.

Amazon Warns of Period of Slower Growth

Amazon.com Inc. warned of a period of reduced growth and signaled the difficult economic environment is denting the performance of its cloud-computing business that has been a profit engine for the company.

"We do expect to see some slower growth rates for the next few quarters, " Brian Olsavsky, Amazon's chief financial officer, said Thursday on a call with reporters. The guidance, he said, reflects the uncertainty the company continues to have about both consumer and corporate spending in the U.S. and overseas.

FTC Denies Meta's Bid to Disqualify Chair Lina Khan From Antitrust Lawsuit

WASHINGTON-Members of the Federal Trade Commission rejected a complaint from Meta Platforms Inc. asking them to disqualify the agency's chair from judging the company's proposed acquisition of virtual-reality company Within Unlimited Inc.

The FTC voted 2-1, along partisan lines, to allow Lina Khan to participate in the legal case against the Meta-Within deal, according to an order made public Thursday. The agency's Democratic commissioners said federal ethics rules don't require Ms. Khan's disqualification, even if her prior work and statements were critical of Meta, the Facebook owner that rebranded itself as a company focused on developing immersive virtual worlds, or metaverses.

Twitter to Remove Free API Access in Elon Musk's Latest Revenue Push

Twitter Inc. said it would start charging for API access as it tries to monetize more of its services under Elon Musk's ownership.

The company said that starting on Feb. 9, it would offer a paid basic tier to access its application programming interface, or API, which lets developers analyze some internal data, including tweets, and build tools with it.

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Expected Major Events for Friday

00:01/UK: Jan BRC-Sensormatic IQ Footfall Monitor

01:01/IRL: Jan Ireland Services PMI

07:00/TUR: Jan CPI

07:00/TUR: Jan PPI

07:45/FRA: Dec Industrial production index

08:00/CZE: 4Q LFSS Employment & Unemployment

08:15/SPN: Jan Spain Services PMI

08:30/EU: Jan EuroCOIN indicator of euro area economic activity

08:45/ITA: Jan Italy Services PMI

08:50/FRA: Jan France Services PMI

08:55/GER: Jan Germany Services PMI

09:00/EU: Jan Eurozone Services PMI

09:30/UK: Jan S&P Global / CIPS UK Services PMI

09:30/UK: Jan UK Official Reserves

10:00/EU: Dec PPI

10:00/CYP: Jan Registered Unemployed

10:00/CYP: Jan CPI

11:00/IRL: Jan Irish Live Register latest monthly figures

All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-03-23 0017ET