The U.S. stock market saw a robust rise as investors focused on major corporate earnings, alleviating economic slowdown concerns. The Nasdaq surged 264 points, or 1.5%, closing at 17,710 points driven by stellar performances from Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) and Meta (META). The S&P 500 rose 35 points, or 0.6%, to 5,604, while the Dow Jones increased 83 points, or 0.2%, to 40,752.
Microsoft's fiscal third-quarter earnings exceeded expectations, with Azure cloud revenue climbing 33%, resulting in a 7.6% stock increase. Meta reported a 35% rise in first-quarter net profit, surpassing forecasts, with daily active users reaching 3.43 billion, boosting its stock by 4.2%. Tesla (TSLA) faced a minor setback amid leadership speculation, dropping 0.6%, while Nvidia (NVDA) gained 2.5%.
Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) saw modest gains of 0.4% and 3.1% respectively, prior to earnings announcements. Conversely, Qualcomm (QCOM) fell 8.9% due to disappointing earnings guidance despite strong revenue. Eli Lilly (LLY) dropped 11.6% over full-year guidance cuts, and McDonald's (MCD) fell 1.8% following a 3% decline in U.S. same-store sales.
