Alphabet falls 10% in premarket, putting it on course for its biggest ever post-earnings drop

Alphabet shares were sharply down in premarket trading on Thursday while Microsoft rose as investors focused on the tech giants' latest spending and free cash flow numbers in their third-quarter earnings. Alphabet was 10% lower in premarket trade while Microsoft was nearly 4% higher. If Alphabet closes more than 9.77% lower on Thursday, it would be its worst post-earnings reaction ever. The company went public in 2004. Microsoft reported $45.2 billion in capital expenditures and finance leases during the third quarter, which was 30% higher than a year ago , but below analyst projections of $50.67 billion. Free cash flow fell 27% to $18.63 billion but remained positive. Alphabet, in contrast, reported negative free cash flow of $9.