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Stocks rose on Thursday after strong quarterly results from two Big Tech players eased concerns that artificial intelligence progress would slow amid economic turmoil.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell off its highs of the day, but remained buoyant 83.42 points to 40,752.78.
The S&P 500 index garnered 35.06 points to 5,604.12
The NASDAQ Composite soared 264.4 points, or 1.5%, to 17,710.74.
Investor fears that President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a downturn in the U.S. economy would threaten the AI trade were assuaged after Meta Platforms posted stronger-than-expected revenue in the first quarter, with Meta’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg saying on an earnings call Wednesday that the business is “performing very well” and that it’s “well positioned to navigate the macroeconomic uncertainty.”
Microsoft also reported top- and bottom-line beats in the fiscal third quarter as well as strong results from its Azure cloud business. On top of that, the company offered upbeat guidance, further alleviating some concerns about tech companies’ performance in the months ahead.
Those results sent shares up about 10%, while Meta shares advanced more than 5%. Other names like AI chip darling Nvidia also gained more than 3%.
Denting Thursday’s bullishness somewhat was a jump in weekly jobless claims to 241,000, more than the Dow Jones estimate of 225,000.
That jump exacerbated further concerns about the economy after the weak first-quarter gross-domestic-product report earlier in the week and raises the stakes for April’s non-farm payrolls reading on Friday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell back, raising yields to 4.21% from Wednesday’s 4.16%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices climbed 85 cents to $59.06 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold sank $83.50 to $3,235.20 U.S.