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What's moving markets today

Updated 5:51 p.m. ET, February 6, 2019

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10:03 a.m. ET, February 6, 2019

No redemption for Take-Two Interactive

From CNN Business' Paul R. La Monica

Video game investors are doing the Take the L loser dance from Fortnite this morning. Shares of both Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) and Electronic Arts (EA) are down more than 10% in early trading due to disappointing guidance.

Take-Two posted earnings and sales that topped forecasts, thanks to the success of its new Red Dead Redemption 2 game. But its outlook was well below forecasts.

Investors are worried that gamers may be losing interest in traditional PC and console titles and are flocking instead to mobile multi-player "battle royale" games like the immensely popular Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

The bad news from Take-Two and EA is probably not a great sign for the other big US video game company either. Shares of Activision Blizzard (ATVI), which reports its latest results on February 12, fell 6% in early trading.

9:11 a.m. ET, February 6, 2019

Spotify just posted its first quarterly operating profit

From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky

Spotify (SPOT) raked in a sizable operating profit last quarter, but its investors are singing the blues. Shares are down 7% in premarket trading after the company warned that it could lose hundreds of millions of dollars this year.

It's growing. The streaming music service grew its total monthly active users by 29%. The number of people paying for its ad-free plan also jumped 36% compared with the same quarter in 2017, largely because of a promotion with Google Home. Spotify now has 96 million paid subscribers.
It's growing revenue. Quarterly revenue spiked 30% compared to a year before, slightly missing analyst estimates. Spotify also reported a quarterly operating profit of €94 million ($107 million) — its first ever.
It's buying things. Spotify said it's acquiring two podcasting startups: Gimlet, the digital media company, and Anchor, a podcast creation app. Terms were not disclosed. Spotify expects to spend as much as $500 million on acquisitions this year.
It won't turn a profit in 2019. Spotify said it expects to lose between €200 million and €360 million ($228 million and $410 million) this year, partly because of that spending spree. But it will grow revenue as much as 29%, or roughly €6.8 billion ($7.7 billion).

10:15 a.m. ET, February 6, 2019

Snap is set to soar

From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky

Shares of Snap (SNAP) soared 25% at the open following yesterday's fourth-quarter earnings report.

Why is the stock up that high? Wall Street is ecstatic that Snap didn't lose any users. The messaging app had 186 million daily users for the quarter, unchanged from the prior quarter. That ended a streak of two consecutive quarters of declines.
Analysts are thrilled. "The fact that Snap was able to maintain its daily active user base quarter over quarter is a positive sign," said Debra Aho Williamson, an eMarketer analyst. She also predicts that Snap will grow once again when it releases an updated Android app.

The stock is in a turnaround, too. Despite losing roughly 60% of its value last year, it's up nearly 30% in 2019.

6:22 a.m. ET, February 6, 2019

SoftBank dumps Nvidia but gets a lift from Uber

From CNN Business' Sherisse Pham

SoftBank's bet on Uber is paying off. Nvidia is another story.

Operating profit for the final quarter of 2018 jumped 60% from a year earlier to 438 billion yen ($4 billion), the Japanese company said Wednesday.

A big chunk of that came from a surge in income from SoftBank's huge tech fund, which has benefited from the rising value of investments in Uber and WeWork.

But it took a billion-dollar hit from its stake in US chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), whose shares plunged toward the end of 2018.

Since then, SoftBank (SFTBF) has dumped the shares. Son said the Vision Fund offloaded its entire stake in Nvidia last month.

9:09 a.m. ET, February 6, 2019

Toyota and Daimler downbeat. GM up next

From CNN Business' Ivana Kottasová

Earnings from Toyota and Daimler are adding to worries over the strength of the global auto industry.

Toyota downgraded its full year forecast on Wednesday. The Prius maker said its sales in North America declined in the final three months of last year.

Shares in Toyota (TM) dropped as much as 1.5% in Tokyo, before recovering some ground to close down 0.7%.

Daimler said in an earnings statement that fourth quarter operating profit dropped 22% compared to the previous year. The German carmaker also cut its dividend.

"2018 was a year of strong headwinds — with the ongoing diesel debate, the changeover to the new [emissions] test method and the global trade dispute," Daimler Chairman Dieter Zetsche said in a statement.

Daimler (DDAIF) shares dropped nearly 2% in Frankfurt after the announcement.

General Motors (GM) is up next, set to report before the open.

It will be its first quarterly report since announcing plans to cut 8,000 salaried staff and close five plants in North America.

Analysts are forecasting lower earnings for the quarter and the year.

6:38 a.m. ET, February 6, 2019

Markets check before the bell

From CNN Business' Ivana Kottasová

US stock futures are pointing down.

The Dow closed up 0.7% on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 closed 0.5% higher and the Nasdaq gained 0.7%.

These are companies to look out for today:

General Motors (GM), 21st Century Fox (FOXA), Boston Scientific (BSX), Eli Lilly (LLY), Humana (HUM), New York Times (NYT), Spotify (SPOT) and Trivago (TRVG) will report earnings before the open.
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), GoPro (GPRO), iRobot (IRBT), Match Group (MTCH), O'Reilly Auto (ORLY) and Valvoline (VVV) will follow after the close.

And check out what's moving markets now:

The European Commission has blocked a planned deal between Siemens (SMAWF) and Alstom (AOMFF) to create the train-making equivalent of Airbus.
Shares in BNP Paribas (BNPQF) dropped 1.9% in Paris after the bank lowered its outlook.
The US Energy Information Administration will release a report on crude oil inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET. US crude futures dropped 0.9% to trade at $53.20.