REFILE-MORNING BID AMERICAS-Meta plunges, mega mining merger revealed

Either way, the Meta retreat has dragged Wall St stock futures back down about 0.5-1.0% ahead of Thursday's bell and ups the ante as the 'Magnificent 7' reports keep rolling in. With almost a third of the S&P500 reported already, nearly 80% have beaten estimates and reported earnings growth has picked up close to 7% - back to where consensus forecasts for the first quarter were at the start of the year. Wary of the slightly jaundiced view of tech stocks this month and mounting currency volatility in Asia, Japan's Nikkei , South Korea's Kospi and Taiwan's benchmark all lost 1-2% overnight.