US STOCKS-Wall Street shares close up as megacap tech stocks rally

"The earnings reports of Microsoft and Google allayed a lot of the concerns about the fact that the spending on data centers and AI, which Meta had raised a day before, was going to compress margins," said Tom Plumb, president and lead portfolio manager at Plumb Funds in Madison, Wisconsin.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, buoyed by a rally in megacap growth stocks following robust quarterly results from technology heavyweights Alphabet and Microsoft in addition to moderate inflation data. Investors cheered Alphabet's first-ever dividend, its $70 billion stock buyback program, and better-than-expected first-quarter results. Its shares jumped to a record high, lifting the Google-parent's market value above $2 trillion.

Microsoft shares rose after its third-quarter revenue and profit exceeded Wall Street estimates, driven by gains from artificial intelligence (AI) adoption across its cloud services. On Wednesday, Meta results had disappointed investors even as the company ratcheted up spending on AI. "The earnings reports of Microsoft and Google allayed a lot of the concerns about the fact that the spending on data centers and AI, which Meta had raised a day before, was going to compress margins," said Tom Plumb, president and lead portfolio manager at Plumb Funds in Madison, Wisconsin. "Both Google and Microsoft had indicated that with their current capital plans, they still expected their margins to expand. That allayed a lot of the fears that people had about the growth of data computing," Plumb added. U.S. Commerce Department data showed monthly inflation rose moderately in March on an annual basis while coming in line with estimates on a monthly basis.

The report offered some relief to financial markets spooked by worries of stagflation a day after data showed inflation surging and economic growth slowing in the first quarter. After the data, money markets priced in a firmer chance of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell after the data, last standing at 4.6692%.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 50.27 points, or 1.00%, to end at 5,098.69 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 311.00 points, or 1.99%, to 15,922.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 151.37 points, or 0.40%, to 38,237.17. Shares of Snap surged after the social media firm beat first-quarter estimates for revenue and user growth. Pinterest shares also finished higher.

Exxon Mobil lost ground after America's largest oil company missed analysts' estimates with first-quarter profit falling 28% from a year ago. Intel dropped after the chipmaker's forecast for second-quarter revenue and profit did not meet estimates. Intel faces weak demand for its traditional data center and PC chips.

 

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