EARNINGS WATCH- Weak Q4 drags Meta back to reality: Shares in Facebook’s parent company plummeted more than 20% in after-hours trading, on the back of weak fourth-quarter financials (pdf) that saw its earnings drop 8% y-o-y for the quarter to hit USD 10.3 bn. The company warned investors that it expected the first quarter of 2022 to be equally rough going, saying revenues would fail to meet expectations due to “increasing competition,” the Financial Times reports. If shares open at the same levels this morning, Meta would see more than USD 200 bn wiped off its value. Meanwhile, Amazon is up to report its 4Q financials today.

M3lesh, Nasdaq dip-buyers: The weak results put an end to the Nasdaq’s biggest four-day rally since November 2020, Bloomberg reports, which had seen the index gain 8% since Thursday. Dip-buyers rushed into the Nasdaq in recent days as they sought gains following a rocky January for its high-value tech stocks ahead of anticipated Fed tightening.

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.8% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 955 mn (12.2% below the 90-day average). Regional investors were net buyers. The index is down 2.2% YTD.

In the green: GB Auto (+8.7%), Credit Agricole (+5.8%) and Fawry (+5.7%).

In the red: Abu Qir Fertilizers (-1.5%), Madinet Nasr Housing (-0.7%) and Mopco (-0.7%).

It’s a blood-red kind of morning in global markets. Major Asian benchmarks are largely in the red (Seoul’s Kospi is bucking the trends) and futures suggest European markets and Wall Street could follow suit later today,.