U.S. stocks head lower, led by tech, on Alphabet’s cloud revenue miss By Investing.com

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Investing.com — U.S. stocks were heading lower, led by a drop in the tech sector after Alphabet (NASDAQ:) reported lower than expected revenue from its cloud business, while Microsoft beat expectations.

At 09:46 ET (13:46 GMT), the was down 46 points or 0.1%, while the was down 0.9% and the  was down 1.5%.

The main indices on Wall Street closed higher Tuesday, as U.S. Treasury yields eased off their Monday highs, helping to reduce the pressure on the tech sector, in particular. 

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.9%, while the broad-based S&P gained 0.7% and the blue chip Dow rose 0.6%.

Microsoft, Alphabet earnings in focus

Tech giants Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) started the ball rolling for the major tech sector, the group that has powered the majority of the S&P’s 10% gains year-to-date, releasing their results after Tuesday’s close,

Alphabet\’s cloud-based revenue fell short of analysts\’ expectations, pushing its stock down more than 9%, while Microsoft shares rose more than 4% after its investment in artificial intelligence bolstered growth in its cloud business Azure.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) takes the spotlight after the close Wednesday, and analysts will be listening for updates on the Facebook and Instagram parent’s efficiency efforts and advertising business.

Boeing (NYSE:) shares rose more than 1% after the airplane maker cut its forecast for 737 Max deliveries this year as it beat revenue expectations for the recent quarter but had a wider loss per share than expected.

Housing data leads economic data slate

The economic data slate is largely empty Wednesday, with only September’s and numbers due, providing insight into the country’s housing market. Building permits fell 4.5% for the month.

Tuesday saw the release of a surprisingly strong snapshot of U.S. business activity, ahead of this week\’s reports on third quarter , due out on Thursday, and September inflation in the form of the . 

The meets next week, and is widely expected to pause its interest rate hiking cycle while its members digest the strength of the economy.

Oil slips on worries over European demand

Crude prices edged lower Wednesday, trading near two-week lows as concerns about slowing European demand competed with worries of Middle East supply disruptions for attention.

The prospect of a de-escalation in the Israel-Hamas war also stymied bets that the conflict will disrupt Middle Eastern oil supply, as multiple reports suggested that Israel had delayed a planned ground assault on Gaza. 

This largely overshadowed positive economic news from the U.S., as well as data from the industry body showing that U.S. inventories shrank more than 2 million barrels last week, with fuel demand remaining strong even after the end of the summer season.

The official data from the , the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, is due later in the session.

(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)