Most U.S. stocks are ticking higher following a rush of profit reports from some of the country's most influential companies. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 150 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:45 a.m.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter as a strike at Boeing contributed to depressing business investment, but robust consumer spending probably keeps the Federal Reserve on a slow interest rate cut path this year. The moderation in growth last quarter reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday was also because inventories at businesses were run down, underscoring the strong domestic demand. There was a surprise drop in imports, despite imports helping to boost the goods trade deficit to a record high in December, which had prompted economists to sharply downgrade their fourth-quarter growth estimates.

Microsoft stock continued to move lower Thursday morning after the company reported its Q2 earnings on Wednesday that missed estimates on key cloud revenue.

Wall Street's main indexes rose on Thursday, driven by post-earnings advances in Meta and Tesla, although Microsoft's weak cloud forecast and downbeat results from Cigna dampened investor enthusiasm. Microsoft dropped 4.7% after forecasting disappointing growth in its cloud computing business. Meta Platforms rose 4.5% after beating estimates for fourth-quarter revenue, but forecast that first-quarter sales might miss estimates.

Heidelberg Materials, the world's second-largest cement maker, wants to do more deals in the U.S. in 2025 and is confident the policies of President Donald Trump will boost its business. In his first comments since Trump took office last week, the CEO of German-listed Heidelberg Materials said the new administration had a clear growth agenda. Heidelberg Materials, which competes with Holcim, makes around a quarter of its sales in the North American region, where it employs around 9,000, or around 18% of its total staff.

Satellite radio and media company Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) reported Q4 CY2024 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations, but sales fell by 4.3% year on year to $2.19 billion. On the other hand, the company’s full-year revenue guidance of $8.5 billion at the midpoint came in 0.6% below analysts’ estimates. Its GAAP profit of $0.83 per share was 17% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's economic growth may falter at under 2.9% this year after a weaker-than-expected fourth quarter despite a vaunted government cash handout aimed at firing up sluggish growth, the central bank chief said on Thursday. The Bank of Thailand previously anticipated that the economy could expand by 2.9% this year, lower than the finance ministry's projection of 3% growth. "I have to say that there is some downside risk to that figure," Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput told Reuters in an interview.

News of the day for Jan. 30, 2025

E-commerce florist and gift retailer 1-800-FLOWERS (NASDAQ:FLWS) fell short of the market’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2024, with sales falling 5.7% year on year to $775.5 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.08 per share was 9.2% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

Specialty vehicles contractor Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) reported revenue ahead of Wall Street’s expectations in Q4 CY2024, with sales up 6.3% year on year to $2.62 billion. The company’s full-year revenue guidance of $10.6 billion at the midpoint came in 3.4% above analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.58 per share was 18.2% above analysts’ consensus estimates.