Big Tech Earnings Propel Stocks as Microsoft Surges 15%
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Microsoft stock surged 15% in what Yahoo Finance called a "historic" rally after its quarterly results, leading Big Tech's Friday premarket gains.
- Amazon shares jumped 10% in premarket trading after its earnings beat expectations, driven by expansion of its chip business to a $25 billion run rate.
- Apple stock fell 7% after its Services and China revenue came up short of estimates, the lone Big Tech decliner among the three companies that reported Thursday.
- The four hyperscalers — Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet — forecast cumulative 2026 capital spending of $720 billion to $745 billion, reassuring investors who had feared an AI slowdown.
- South Korea's KOSPI index jumped 14% overnight, triggering trading halts and boosting sentiment for US tech futures at the open.
- ExxonMobil and Chevron are expected to report Q2 windfalls, as the US-Iran conflict and resulting energy shock have kept oil prices elevated — WTI near $82/barrel and Brent below $86/barrel, though traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is picking up.
- The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index release is due at 10:00 a.m. ET, the next check on how Americans are absorbing higher energy and gas costs.
Why it matters: Hyperscaler capital commitments of $720–745 billion for 2026 have made AI infrastructure the defining market force — but the same-day divergence between Microsoft's 15% surge and Apple's 7% drop shows earnings quality and AI exposure now separate winners from losers within Big Tech itself, while the looming University of Michigan sentiment read will test whether consumers can absorb the energy shock from the US-Iran conflict.
