Thursday's big stock stories: What's likely to move the market in the next trading session

Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you a first look at tomorrow and last look at today. Sign up for free to receive it directly in your inbox.

Here's what CNBC TV's producers were watching as stocks slipped on Wednesday, and what's on the radar for the next session.

Apple

• The company reports Thursday after the bell. CNBC TV's Steve Kovach is set to cover the numbers and the stock.
• Apple is up 5% in three months.
• Apple hit a high Oct. 15, and it's down 3% since then.

Microsoft

• The tech giant beat on earnings and profit expectations.
• The stock is down nearly 4% in after hours.
• CNBC contributor Jeff Kilburg, fresh off scoring a big profit from a call on Tesla options, highlighted concerns about Microsoft spending too much on Copilot. "If we do see a pullback here, I want to buy more at $421," he said on "The Exchange."  "It makes a ton of sense to add here on any sort of pullback."
• The stock slid to about $416 in extended trading.
• Shares of Microsoft are 7.6% from the July high and up 15% year to date.

The other Big Tech companies

• Factoring in after-hours action...
• Meta Platforms is up 23.7% in three months. It's 2% from the early October high.
• Netflix is up 21.3% in the past three months, and Nvidia is up 32.9% in that period. Both are just off their highs: Netflix is 2.5% from the Oct. 21 high, and Nvidia is 3.5% from the Oct. 22 high.
• Amazon is up 5.4% in three months. It's 4.2% from the July high.
• Alphabet is up about 2% in three months. It's 9% from the July high. The stock was up nearly 3% on Wednesday after the previous evening's earnings report in which the company touted growth in the cloud business.

Also from the cloud

• The stocks in the cloud sector are having a big October.
• The First Trust Cloud Computing ETF (SKYY) is up 4.7% in October.
• Datadog is up 11% in October, 7.5% from the February high.
• Cloudflare is up 11% in October, 22% from the February high.
• Zscaler is up 9.27% in October, 28% from the February high.
• Asana is up 5.5% in October, 47% from the December 2023 high.
• Snowflake is up 3.6% in October, 50% from the February high.
• Atlassian is up about 20% in October, still 26% from the January high.

The industrials

• The group ranks in the middle of the pack over the past three months versus the rest of the S&P sectors. It's up more than 6% in that period.
• On Thursday, Ingersoll Rand and W.W. Grainger report numbers. Both hit highs this month.
• Ingersoll Rand is down nearly 2% in the past three months. The stock hit a high Oct. 15, and it has fallen more than 5% from there.
• W.W. Grainger is up roughly 13% in the past three months. The stock hit a high Oct. 21 and is down 2.7% since then. It is the best performer in the sector, followed by Eaton and Trane Technologies.
• Boeing, Textron and Stanley Black & Decker are at the bottom of the list. Stanley Black & Decker and Textron are down about 11% in three months. Boeing is down about 17% in that period.

The utilities

• This is the third best S&P performing sector in the last three months.
• Xcel Energy reports Thursday, as does Southern Co.
• Xcel is up about 8% in three months. The stock hit a high last week but has dropped 4% since then.
• Southern Co. is up 7% in three months. This stock also hit a high last week and has dropped 5% since then.
• Vistra, Constellation and NRG are the top performers. AES, American Water Works and American Electric Power are the laggards.

Li Auto

• The Chinese automaker reports Thursday.
• The stock is up 46% in three months.
• Li Auto is 38% from the February high.