(Reuters) -Dow said on Thursday it will lay off 1,500 employees as part of its $1 billion cost savings plan due to lackluster demand and margin pressures, causing its shares to drop 6.3% in morning trade. The chemical industry has been grappling with weak demand and high input costs, leading to lower prices and margin pressures, especially in Europe, where a challenging regulatory environment has prompted some companies to rethink their strategies. The Midland, Michigan-based company said it plans to reduce its workforce globally, with Europe and Asia in focus, and it expects to save an additional $300 million to $500 million this year by cutting back on expenses.

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.

Whirlpool's North American sales dropped, and the home appliance maker's fourth-quarter results and guidance came up short of forecasts.

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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.