US stock indexes were mixed in late-morning trading Thursday, as a run of recently released jobs data has raised investors' confidence that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its December meeting.

In company news, Meta Platforms (META) Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has discussed budget cuts as high as 30% next year for building the so-called metaverse, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Meta shares were up 4.2% around noon.

Netflix (NFLX) shares were down 1.5% Thursday after CNBC's David Faber reported that the streaming giant is the leading bidder for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance (PSKY) increased the proposed penalty for deal failure to $5 billion from $2.1 billion in its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Paramount attorneys sent a letter to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav that raised concerns about the "fairness and adequacy" of its sale process, CNBC reported Thursday. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount were down 1.1% and 0.1%, respectively.

Kroger (KR) reported fiscal Q3 adjusted net earnings Thursday of $1.05 per diluted share, up from $0.98 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus of $1.03. Fiscal Q3 sales were $33.86 billion, up from $33.63 billion a year ago but below the FactSet consensus of $34.19 billion. For fiscal 2025, the company raised the lower end of its EPS guidance by $0.05 to a range of $4.75 to $4.80 versus the previous forecast of $4.70 to $4.80. Analysts polled by FactSet expect $4.79. Full-year identical sales without fuel guidance are expected in a range of 2.8% to 3.0%, compared with 2.7% to 3.4% previously. Kroger shares were down 5.4%.

Salesforce (CRM) reported fiscal Q3 adjusted earnings late Wednesday of $3.25 per diluted share, up from $2.41 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus of $2.86. Fiscal Q3 revenue was $10.26 billion, up from $9.44 billion a year ago but below the FactSet consensus of $10.27 billion. For fiscal Q4, the company said it expects adjusted EPS of $3.02 to $3.04 on revenue of $11.13 billion to $11.23 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expect $3.04 and $10.91 billion, respectively. For fiscal 2026, Salesforce said it expects adjusted EPS of $11.75 to $11.77, up from its previous guidance of $11.33 to $11.37. The company also raised its full-year revenue guidance to $41.45 billion to $41.55 billion from a range of $41.10 billion to $41.30 billion. Analysts expect EPS of $11.38 on revenue of $41.26 billion. Salesforce shares were up nearly 3%.

Dollar General (DG) reported fiscal Q3 earnings Thursday of $1.28 per diluted share, up from $0.89 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus of $0.98. Fiscal Q3 net sales were $10.65 billion, up from $10.18 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $10.62 billion. For fiscal 2025, the company said it expects EPS of $6.30 to $6.50, up from its previous guidance of $5.80 to $6.30 and above the FactSet consensus of $6.18. Dollar General also raised its full-year net sales growth forecast to a range of 4.7% to 4.9% from 4.3% to $4.8% previously. Dollar General shares were up over 11%.

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