The daily business briefing: April 26, 2023

Google-parent Alphabet on Tuesday reported a rare second consecutive decline in quarterly advertising revenue, although the drop was smaller than Wall Street had expected. Alphabet said it brought in $54.5 billion in first-quarter ad revenue, down less than 1 percent from the same period a year ago but better than the 3.6 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2022. It was only the third time Google has seen ad sales fall since 2004. Microsoft also reported earnings on Tuesday. The software giant said its revenue rose a better-than-expected 7 percent from a year earlier, falling short of its typical double-digit growth for a second straight quarter. Both tech powerhouses defied gloomy expectations as recession fears linger, and their shares advanced in after-hours trading.

First Republic Bank's stock plummeted by 49 percent on Tuesday afternoon, a day after the company reported that customers withdrew $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter. Trading in First Republic shares was halted several times during the afternoon. Many regional banks have struggled in the aftermath of the collapse of two mid-size banks, but First Republic has been the focus of a lot of investors' anxiety due to a surge in withdrawals. The bank fell the most of any S&P 500 stock on Tuesday, and was the most actively traded, according to Dow Jones Market Data. First Republic said Monday that despite the outflows it had held onto 97 percent of its clients.

Fox Corporation's stock fell 0.6 percent on Tuesday, costing the company $500 million in market value the day after Fox News announced its top-rated prime-time host, Tucker Carlson, was leaving the conservative news network. Carlson's unexpected departure followed Fox's decision last week to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems that accused Fox of damaging its reputation by repeating false allegations that its voting machines were used during the 2020 election to change votes from then-President Donald Trump to President Biden. Fox is airing an interim program until it finds a replacement for Carlson.

President Biden on Tuesday threatened to veto House Republicans' proposal to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for deep spending cuts. Biden said the GOP plan is "a reckless attempt to extract extreme concessions as a condition for the United States simply paying the bills it has already incurred." The Republican-controlled House Rules Committee started considering the "Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023" Tuesday, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) aims to bring it to the floor on Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he had no plan for the Senate to consider McCarthy's proposal, calling it "a partisan wish list masquerading as legislation."

U.S. stock futures rose slightly early Wednesday following better-than-expected earnings from Alphabet and Microsoft. Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq were up 1.2 percent at 6:30 a.m. ET. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed, and S&P 500 futures were up 0.3 percent ahead of the next flurry of corporate earnings reports. "We're still early in this season, but it seems like Wall Street generally underestimated corporate America once again," said Callie Cox, an analyst at investment company eToro. "Company-level information could be easing investors' fears on how corporate America is handling slowing growth and rising costs, especially given the focus on the job market." The three main U.S. indexes fell by more than 1 percent on Tuesday.