Stock Market Today: Stocks higher with GDP and jobs on deck; Tesla tumbles
Stocks are powering through a rise in Treasury yields and mixed fourth quarter earnings. That may not last.
Check back for updates throughout the trading day
U.S. equity futures nudged higher Thursday, while the dollar slipped against its global peers and Treasury yields steadied, as investors reacted to a key 2024 update from Tesla while looking to GDP and jobs data prior to the opening bell.
Updated at 9:19 AM EST
Tesla tumult
Tesla shares are the biggest early decliner Thursday, with shares testing levels from May of last year, following a disappointing fourth quarter earnings report that CEO Elon Musk failed to offset in what many analysts described as a muted all with investors.
Tesla shares, which have shed more that $330 billion in value since late summer, were marked 8.4% lower and indicating an opening bell price of $190.04 each.
Related: Tesla tumbles as Musk's 'train wreck' call fails to gloss over profit slump
Updated at 8:39 AM EST
GDPower!
The U.S. economy grew at a stronger-than-expected pace over the final three months of last year, the Commerce Department indicated, while inflation pressures continued to ease, erasing concerns for a near-term recession.
Fourth quarter GDP was pegged at 3.3%, a pace that slowed from the 4.9% rate over the three months ending in October but was nonetheless well ahead of the Street's 2% forecast.
Stocks extended earlier gains, with futures tied to the S&P 500 indicating a 17 point opening bell gain with the Nasdaq called 80 points higher.
The U.S. economy grew at a 3.3% annualized rate in Q4.https://t.co/qHGf5n4FeX#GDP— BEA News (@BEA_News) January 25, 2024
Updated at 8:26 AM EST
ECB holds steady
The European Central Bank held its three benchmark interest rates unchanged Thursday following its two-day policy meeting in Frankfurt, with the benchmark refinancing rate pegged at a record high of 4.5%.
Th ECB, which has a single mandate to maintain "price stability" said futures decisions "will ensure that its policy rates will be set at sufficiently restrictive levels for as long as necessary."
The euro was little-changed at 1.0883 against the U.S. dollar ahead of President Christine Lagarde's press conference at 8:45 AM eastern.
Updated at 7:50 AM EST
American soaring
American Airlines (AAL) - Get Free Report shares are moving sharply higher after the carrier blasted the Street's fourth quarter earnings forecast and said adjusted profits for the coming year would get another big boost from strong international travel demand.
American forecast adjusted profits of between $2.25 and $3.25 per share this year, more than a $1 ahead of analysts' estimates, after posting fourth quarter revenues of $13.06 billion and a bottom line of 29 cents per share.
American shares were last marked 4.9% higher to indicate an opening bell price of $14.61 each.
Stock Market Today
Stocks are holding onto last night's slim gains, which lifted the S&P 500 to a fourth consecutive record close, even in the face of rising Treasury yields. Investors see firmer economic growth prospects but no further signal of Federal Reserve rate hikes.
Further evidence of that dynamic is likely to come from today's GDP data, which are expected to show growth slowed over the final three months of the year but not enough to damage momentum heading into 2024.
Some confirmation of that thesis came yesterday from S&P Global's January PMI readings of economic activity, which showed a big jump for the manufacturing sector and the highest overall tally for the composite index since June.
Benchmark 10-year-note yields, which hit a 2024 high of 4.18% following yesterday's mixed auction of $61 billion in 5-year notes, eased to 4.155%. Two-year notes were pegged at 4.372%.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 0.03% lower at $103.202. 
On Wall Street, investors will likely track the fallout from Tesla's (TSLA) - Get Free Report worse-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings report, which included a miss on both earnings and revenue as well as a warning that 2024 growth rates "may be notably lower than the growth rate achieved in 2023."
Tesla shares were marked 8.5% lower and indicating an opening bell price of $190.25 each.
On the flip side, International Business Machines (IBM) - Get Free Report surged 7.2% after the cloud-focused software and consulting group, which is driving further into AI, topped Wall Street earnings estimates and forecast solid 2024 sales and cashflow.
Boeing (BA) - Get Free Report was also on the move, falling 2.55% after the Federal Aviation Administration said the planemaker had to halt production of its workhorse 737 Max in order to "ensure accountability and full compliance with required quality control procedures"
The move followed the blowout of a door panel on a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines flight, which triggered safety concerns across the whole of Boeing's production lines.
Paramount Global (PARA) - Get Free Report was another active stock, rising 3.5% amid reports that Skydance Media CEO David Ellison was looking to take control of the media group's parent through a purchase of the Redstone family's National Amusements holding company.
On Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 suggest an opening bell gain of 6 points for the benchmark, with the Dow slipping 5 points and the Nasdaq nudging 35 points higher.
Overseas, Europe's Stoxx 600 was marked 0.33% lower ahead of the European Central Bank's January rate decision later in the session, while Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.15%.
Overnight in Asia, the regionwide MSCI ex-Japan benchmark rose 0.72% into the close of trading, while the Nikkei 225 ended 0.03% lower in Tokyo.
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