Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) performance on 3rd October 2023.
The Dow fell more than 400 points, turning negative for the year. The main reason for the drop was the surge in U.S. Treasury yields, which reached their highest levels in 16 years.
Higher yields mean higher borrowing costs for businesses and consumers, which could hurt the economic recovery and the housing market.
S&P 500 on 3rd October 2023
Nasdaq on 3rd October 2023
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained a 0.7% on October 3rd, 2023, as some investors saw an opportunity to buy some of the high-growth stocks that had been under pressure recently.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META), formerly known as Facebook, has seen its stock price soar in 2023, a straight nine month gain in a massive turnaround after a dismal performance in 2022.
Meta is the parent company of social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, as well as the Oculus VR headset and other ventures.
Year of efficiency
Meta’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has declared 2023 as the ‘Year of Efficiency‘ for the company, as it tries to cut costs and streamline its operations. The company has also announced layoffs of about 10% of its workforce in 2022 and 2023, as part of its restructuring efforts.
Meta’s stock has almost doubled since January, making it among the top performers on the S&P 500. The company has also seen a boost in the number of daily active users on Facebook, reaching two billion as of the end of December 2022. Meta’s net worth is currently at $89.9 billion, making Zuckerberg the 12th wealthiest person on the planet, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index.
Surge
Meta’s stock surge comes after a sharp decline in 2022, when the company faced regulatory scrutiny, public backlash and technical glitches over its plans to expand into the metaverse, a virtual reality world where people can interact with each other and through digital content.
Meta’s stock plummeted by over 60% last year, as Zuckerberg struggled to sell Wall Street on his vision for the future of social media.
Future
Meta is still betting on the metaverse as its long-term goal, and has been investing heavily in AI, VR and AR technologies. The company is reportedly working on a new social media app called ‘Instagram for your thoughts‘, which would allow users to share their thoughts and emotions using brain-computer interfaces.
The app could launch as soon as next month, according to latest reports.
