Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) earnings lead to big tech-led gains even as readings from the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation indicator showed price pressures remained tenacious U.S. stocks were expected to rebound on Friday as expectations for the future were rekindled.
S&P 500 (^GSPC) futures rose about 0.9%, and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) contracts rose 1%. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which has fewer tech stocks, rose 0.3%.
Earnings for Alphabet and Microsoft have boosted their stocks after Thursday's plunge, rising about 11% and 4%, respectively. The impressive results from the “Magnificent Seven” duo showed that cloud revenues are being driven by strong AI demand, and there is room for both to benefit from the boom.
That boosted confidence that profits from the Magnificent Seven's tech companies could pull the overall market out of the doldrums. That confidence was dashed by Meta's (META) disappointing forecast released earlier this week.
At the same time, the market took in the latest reading of the March Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation. The report's “core” index (excluding food and energy costs) rose 2.8% year-on-year, higher than the 2.7% expected, but unchanged from the previous annual growth rate.
The numbers came as Wall Street was furiously scaling back expectations for Fed rate cuts this year. Already since the beginning of the year, traders have readjusted their bets from 7 to 1.
In other individual stocks, Snap (SNAP) shares soared 26% in premarket trading as Wall Street cheered an after-hours report indicating that the company's revamped digital advertising business is finding buyers.
live2 updates
