Major growth stocks decline as week ends, PCE shows falling monthly core inflation

Core PCE data from the US show that monthly inflation is below expectations.
Downwardly revised consumer spending data and Q1 GDP growth early this week worried traders.
UiPath and Salesforce decline on reduced growth.
Dell, MongoDB, and CrowdStrike suffer from guidance pessimism.

Stocks of many leading technology companies fell at the end of the week, giving the NASDAQ index a reason to decline.

Three tech stalwarts capsized on Thursday: CrowdStrike (CRWD), Ui path (path) AND Salesforce (CRM).

Then on Friday Dell (DELL) and MongoDB (MDB) fell on the market preceding the publication of uninteresting earnings releases.

The overall market struggled with Q1 GDP data, which was revised down for the U.S. economy due to reduced consumer spending data. These data appear to be in line with the announcement of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve (Fed), but on Friday basic personal consumption expenditure (PCE) data showed that core inflation fell to 0.2% m/m, below the consensus.

The NASDAQ fell 1.08% on Thursday, but gained some thanks to the release of PCE in Friday’s pre-market.

Stock exchange news: CRWD, PATH, CRM, DELL, MDB

CrowdStrike fell 9.6% on Thursday, but rebounded slightly on Friday before the open. The company announced a zero trust partnership with Cloudflare. Bulls are eagerly awaiting quarterly results, which will be published on June 4.

UiPath topped Wall Street’s earnings and revenue consensus on Thursday, but fell 34% after announcing a sudden CEO change. Both Keybanc and Bank of America downgraded the automation software company due to slower growth. Management projected 2025 revenue growth of 7.6%, up from the previously reported 19.1%.

Salesforce ( CRM ) fell 19.7% on Thursday after the provider of leading customer relationship management software missed earnings and consensus sales. Jefferies, Mizuho and Morgan Stanley lowered their share price targets but gave rather positive forecasts for the future, explaining the current malaise as a ephemeral situation. Thursday’s CRM results were the worst in 16 years.

Dell’s sale was surprising. DELL shares lost more than 5% on Thursday, and fell another 17% in Friday’s pre-market session. It missed the consensus estimate for quarterly results by 1%, but beat the consensus estimate for revenue, reaching $22.2 billion. One culprit is that the AI server backlog fell $1 billion below expectations but still stands at $3.8 billion. Another factor is that gross margin is expected to decline by 150 basis points in the coming quarters.

MongoDB lost more than 7% on Thursday and fell 24% in Friday’s premarket. Despite surpassing the Wall Street consensus, MongoDB has lost weight due to its second-quarter outlook. Management said revenue was expected to be $462 million, below the consensus estimate of $471 million. Earnings per share are also expected to fall below the consensus estimate of $0.57 and be between $0.46 and $0.49.

NASDAQ Forecast

On Thursday, the NASDAQ fell below the 9-day exponential moving average (EMA) for the first time since May 1. This may mean a slowdown in work, although Friday’s inflation news may lead to a rebound.

The Moving Average Divergence (MACD) indicator shows a likely crossover, which would also herald a downtrend. If a downtrend emerges next week, expect the NASDAQ to reach somewhere between 16,000 and 16,250. This is an area where the index has spent a lot of time.

A pullback wouldn’t be surprising since the NASDAQ just this week hit 17,000 for the first time ever. In other words, consolidation appears to be proceeding as expected.

NASDAQ daily chart