Tesla, AT&T help drag Wall Street lower

NEW YORK — Stocks on Wall Street dipped Thursday following mixed earnings reports from big companies and more signals the U.S. economy may be slowing.

The S&P 500 fell 24.73, or 0.6 percent, to 4,129.79 after drifting listlessly earlier this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 110.39, or 0.3 percent, to 33,786.62, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 97.67, or 0.8 percent, to 12,059.56.

Tesla weighed heavily on the market for a second straight day on worries about how much profit it’s making on each of its electric vehicles. It dropped 9.7 percent after reporting revenue for the first three months of the year that fell short of analysts’ expectations as it repeatedly cut prices on its models.

Tesla’s cutting prices “is good for inflation,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “But for the market, the question has to be: You’re cutting prices again, it seems like we’re not seeing enough demand on the auto side.”

Several banks also dropped after reporting weaker profits and revenue than expected, including KeyCorp and Zions Bancorp. The spotlight has been particularly harsh on smaller and midsized banks amid worries their customers may pull out deposits following the second- and thirdlargest U.S. bank failures in history last month.

Zions fell 4.9 percent, and KeyCorp dropped 2.7 percent. Truist Financial fell 3.8 percent after reporting weaker profit than expected.

AT&T sank 10.4 percent after it reported slightly weaker revenue than analysts forecast, though profit squeaked past expectations. Analysts also pointed to weaker cash flow than some expected. It was the worst day for its stock in two decades and its second-worst since late 1983.

In the bond market, yields fell following a couple reports on the U.S. economy.

Slightly more workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than the week before, a potential signal that a still-strong job market is starting to soften under the weight of much higher interest rates.

Helping to limit Wall Street’s losses Thursday were big gains from companies that topped analysts’ expectations.

Lam Research was one of the strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500 after the supplier for the semiconductor manufacturing industry rose 7.2 percent. It reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that beat Wall Street’s forecast.

Steel Dynamics climbed 4.9 percent, homebuilder D.R. Horton gained 5.6 percent, casino operator Las Vegas Sands rallied 3.7 percent and steelmaker Nucor rose 5.5 percent after all also reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected.