Biggest stock movers Thursday: GOOG, META, MSFT, and more

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Stock futures exhibited mixed performance in the premarket hours of Thursday, following the Fed's approval of a second consecutive interest rate cut while Chair Jerome Powell cast doubt on another reduction in December, rattling markets. Meanwhile, President Trump announced that tariffs on Chinese goods would be reduced to 10%, and the U.S. had reached a rare earths deal with Beijing, contributing to the market's cautious tone and fluctuations across major indexes.​

Here are some of Thursday's biggest stock movers:

BIGGEST STOCK GAINERS

* ALPHABET (GOOG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOG]) (GOOGL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOGL]) +7% - Shares jumped after reporting a strong Q3 beat, with revenue surpassing $100B for the first time and growing 16% Y/Y to $102.3B, above expectations. Cost discipline helped drive a 33% increase in net income to nearly $35B, while EPS rose 35% to $2.87, well ahead of the $2.27 consensus. As investors continue to track AI-related infrastructure spending, Alphabet again raised its 2025 capital expenditure outlook to $91B–$93B, up from prior expectations, with Q3 capex landing just under $24B. CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted strong cloud demand and broad-based business momentum as key drivers supporting sustained investment in AI capacity.

BIGGEST STOCK LOSERS

* CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL (CMG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CMG]) -16% - Shares slid after reporting soft Q3 results, with comparable sales rising just 0.3%. Persistent macro pressures, along with higher labor and protein costs and the impact of new tariffs, squeezed restaurant-level operating margin by 100 bps to 24.5%, with overall operating margin also falling 100 bps to 15.9%. Looking ahead to FY2025, Chipotle expects low single-digit declines in comparable sales and plans to open 315–345 new company-owned locations, followed by 350–370 openings in 2026, including some international expansion.
* META PLATFORMS (META [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/META]) -7% - Shares dipped after the company took a $16B one-time tax charge in Q3 and warned that costs will rise meaningfully next year as it ramps up investments in AI infrastructure. Q3 expenses jumped 32% to $30.7B, driven largely by R&D. Meta said it will “spend aggressively” in 2025 and expects capital expenditures of $70B–$72B (up from prior guidance) and total expenses of $116B–$118B, both growing at a “significantly faster” rate as it pushes to scale AI capabilities. For Q4, Meta guided revenue of $56B–$59B, roughly in line with consensus. Looking ahead, the company expects lower tax expense in 2025 and beyond under the newly implemented tax legislation.
* CLEVELAND-CLIFFS (CLF [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CLF]) -9% - Shares plunged after the company launched an underwritten public offering of 75M common shares, with an additional 11.25M shares available to the underwriter under a 30-day option. The company plans to use the proceeds to repay borrowings under its asset-based credit facility and for general corporate purposes.
* MICROSOFT (MSFT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MSFT]) -4% - Shares slipped despite posting FQ1 results that beat expectations, as the company disclosed that its OpenAI investment reduced net income by $523M and EPS by $0.07 for the quarter. Management also signaled higher spending in FY2026, particularly for GPUs and CPUs to support AI growth, exceeding prior cost forecasts. For FQ2, Microsoft guided revenue to $79.5B–$80.6B (vs. ~$80B consensus), with Azure expected to grow ~37% in constant currency and Intelligent Cloud revenue projected at $32.25B–$32.55B.

MORE ON RELATED STOCKS:

* Alphabet Q3: Nothing But Impressive, Does The Stock Need A Breather? [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4835162-alphabet-q3-nothing-but-impressive-does-stock-need-a-breather]
* Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4835092-microsoft-corporation-msft-q1-2026-earnings-call-transcript]
* Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4835072-alphabet-inc-googl-q3-2025-earnings-call-transcript]
* Microsoft restores Azure after global outage [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4510998-microsoft-restores-azure-after-global-outage]
* Microsoft outlines FY26 capital expenditure acceleration as AI demand drives 80% AI capacity boost [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4510964-microsoft-outlines-fy26-capital-expenditure-acceleration-as-ai-demand-drives-80-percent-ai]