Why did Microsoft stock drop today? UBS slashes rating on cloud worries
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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares finished down nearly 4.4% on Wednesday as UBS downgraded the tech giant, citing worries over its cloud business.
Analyst Karl Kierstead lowered his rating on Microsoft (MSFT) to neutral from buy and cut the price target to $250 from $300, citing a recent round of field checks on cloud providers that was described as "weak," including Microsoft's Azure. 
"Azure is entering a steep growth deceleration that could prove worse [in Microsoft's 2023 and 2024 fiscal year] than investors are modeling," said Kierstead, who added that the market for Azure is close to reaching "maturation."
In addition, Kierstead pointed out there is evidence that Microsoft Office growth could "moderate" this year.
Separately on Wednesday, it was reported that Microsoft (MSFT) was in "advanced talks" to invest in autonomous driving startup Gatik.
Microsoft (MSFT) is also reportedly working on a version of its Bing search engine that could use the same technology as OpenAI's ChatGPT to improve its results and siphon market share.