5 things to know before the stock market opens Friday, Oct. 29

Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:

U.S. stock futures dropped Friday, with the Nasdaq heading for the biggest loss at the open, as shares of Amazon and Apple sank in the premarket on disappointing quarterly results. Microsoft could take the most valuable company crown from Apple if premarket trading holds into the regular session.

Ahead of the tech earnings, which came after the bell Thursday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs and were tracking for solid weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished just shy of Tuesday’s record close and was only slightly positive for the week ahead of Friday’s session.

In addition to following earnings Friday, investors get a key read on inflation that’s closely watched by the Federal Reserve. The September core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes food and energy costs, is expected to increase 3.7% from last year. That would be a slightly more robust than August’s rise of 3.6%, which was the biggest jump in more than 30 years.

Shares Amazon sank 4% in Friday’s premarket, the morning after the e-commerce and cloud giant badly missed estimates on both per-share adjusted earnings of $6.12 and revenue of $110.81 billion in the third quarter. Amazon also delivered lower guidance for the upcoming critical holiday period, with the company’s CEO, Andy Jassy, citing labor shortages, higher employee costs, global supply chain constraints, and increased freight and shipping costs.

Apple shares slid about 3.5% in premarket trading after the tech giant late Thursday matched forecasts with adjusted earnings of $1.24 per share in its fiscal fourth quarter but missed on revenue of $83.36 billion. Apple said supply chain issues impacted production of iPhones and its other products. The company hasn’t provided official guidance since the start of the Covid pandemic, but CEO Tim Cook said Apple expects “solid year-over-year revenue growth” in the December quarter.

Facebook announced Thursday that it’s changed its company name to Meta. The new name reflects the company’s growing ambitions beyond social media. Facebook, now known as Meta, has adopted the new moniker, based on the sci-fi term metaverse, to describe its vision for working and playing in a virtual world. The company also said in announcing the new name that it will change its stock ticker from FB to MVRS, effective Dec. 1.

Meta shares, which have recently been under pressure, closed higher Thursday and rose again in Friday’s premarket….