All three major US stock indexes were down in late-morning trading Thursday, as yields on Treasury bonds reversed course from their Wednesday drop following the Treasury's debt buyback announcement.

In company news, Walmart (WMT) reported fiscal Q2 adjusted earnings Thursday of $0.81 per share, up from $0.68 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $0.74. Fiscal Q2 revenue was $187.94 billion, up from $177.40 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $186.62 billion. For fiscal Q3, the company expects adjusted EPS of $0.62 to $0.64, below the FactSet consensus of $0.68. For fiscal 2027, Walmart expects adjusted EPS of $2.80 to $2.87, up from its prior outlook of $2.75 to $2.85 but below the FactSet consensus of $2.90. Full-year net sales are expected to grow 4% to 5%, compared with previous guidance of 3.5% to 4.5%. Walmart shares were down 9.4% around midday.

Virtu Financial (VIRT) is exploring a potential sale of its brokerage and technology unit in a deal that could be worth up to $3.5 billion to $4 billion, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Sale talks are in early stages, and Virtu may decide to keep the division, the sources said. Virtu shares were down 0.6%.

Meta Platforms (META) has become one of Microsoft's (MSFT) largest artificial intelligence customers, as the social media company is spending hundreds of millions of dollars per year to access AI models through Microsoft's Azure cloud service, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Meta shares were down 0.4%, while Microsoft shares were down 0.7%.

Alibaba Group (BABA) reported fiscal Q1 non-GAAP earnings Thursday of 8.52 Chinese renminbi ($1.26) per diluted American depositary share, down from 14.75 renminbi a year earlier and below the FactSet consensus of 10.14 renminbi. Fiscal Q1 revenue was 268.95 billion renminbi, up from 247.65 billion renminbi a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of 268.48 billion renminbi. Alibaba shares were down 2.1%.

SpaceX (SPCX) approached Cognition AI about a potential acquisition, Bloomberg reported late Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. There are currently no active deal talks between SpaceX and the AI coding startup, but they continue to discuss a potential collaboration, the report said. SpaceX shares were down 5.3%.

Micron Technology (MU) on Thursday unveiled Micron Research Labs, a research institution in Boise, Idaho, backed by a planned $10 billion investment over the next decade. The facility will focus on critical memory technologies, advanced memory and compute architectures, packaging and future semiconductor manufacturing, Micron said, adding that it plans to begin construction in 2027. Micron shares were up 2.2%.

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