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Technically, the Dow blue-chip index kept its four-day winning streak intact, though by the slimmest of margins: +0.007% on the day, or +2 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped -0.74% and -2.04%, respectively, demonstrating the heavier selling off in the tech-heavy index as ex-FANG stocks put out quarterly earnings that are scarcely recognizable from their halcyon days of the past decade. The small-cap Russell 2000 outperformed the field, +0.86% for the day.

One of those ex-FANG stocks, the “ex-F” in “Fang,” Meta Platforms (META - Free Report), nee Facebook, posted Q3 earnings after the closing bell this Hump Day. It brings profoundly mixed results: earnings of $1.64 per share missed the Zacks consensus of $1.88 (and basically half the year-ago $3.22 per share reported), on $27.71 billion in sales which outpaced the $27.39 billion (but was still -4% year over year).

Daily Active Users (DAU) rose +3% year over year to 1.98 billion, while Monthly Active Users (MAU) gained +2% from a year ago to 2.96 billion. Price per ad came in -18% year over year. Also, amid the clamor of late regarding tech companies keeping very high employment rolls, Meta announced it will keep its headcount flat through the end of 2023. These details helped META shares first bounce +6% in late trading to -11% now. Shares are down -61% year to date.

Interestingly, ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) is headed in the opposite direction in today’s after-market following its Q3 earnings report: +12% on an earnings beat — $1.96 per share versus $1.85 in the Zacks consensus — on $1.831 billion in revenues, which was shy of the estimated $1.85 billion, though still +21% year over year. Subscriptions increased and the company raised guidance. This enterprise cloud software company does not have an earnings miss on its chart going back to its analyst coverage.

Also reporting Q3 earnings after the bell is Ford Motor Company (F - Free Report), which missed on both top and bottom lines: earnings of 30 cents per share was light by a penny, while $37.24 billion in sales came up short from the $38.34 billion expected. The biggest news coming out of this report was that Ford would be taking a $2.7 billion non-cash charge as it winds down its involvement with Argo A.I. level 4 vehicle development. The automaker giant has $3.6 billion in free cash flow and expected $9.5-10 billion in free cash flow for the full year. Shares are down -1.6% in the late session.

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