Microsoft and Meta Platforms drove Wall Street higher Thursday after delivering profits for the start of the year that were even bigger than analysts expected.
- The S&P 500 rose 35.08 points, or 0.6%, to 5,604.14.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 83.60 points, or 0.2%, to 40,752.96.
- The Nasdaq composite rose 264.40 points, or 1.5%, to 17,710.74.
Microsoft jumped 7.6% after the software giant said strength in its cloud computing and artificial intelligence businesses drove its overall revenue up 13% from a year earlier, the
AP reports.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, also topped analysts' targets for revenue and profit in the latest quarter. It said AI tools helped boost its advertising revenue, and its stock climbed 4.2%. The two are some of the most influential stocks within the S&P 500 and other indexes because of their massive sizes, but they weren't alone. CVS Health, Carrier Global, and a bevy of other companies also joined the stream of better-than-expected profit reports that have helped steady Wall Street over the last week.
But while companies have been reporting better profits for the first three months of the year than analysts expected, many CEOs are remaining cautious about the rest of the year. General Motors cut its forecast for profit in 2025. It said it's assuming it will feel a hit of $4 billion to $5 billion because of tariffs. Its stock fell 0.4%. McDonald's fell 1.9% after reporting weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, even though its profit was slightly above forecasts. An important underlying measure of performance at its US restaurants had its worst decline since 2020, when COVID shuttered the global economy, and McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said consumers "are grappling with uncertainty."
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Treasury yields swiveled in the bond market following some mixed reports on the economy. Yields initially sank after a report showed more US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than expected, setting the stage for a more comprehensive report on the job market arriving Friday. But they later recovered following an update that said US manufacturing activity was better last month than economists had feared, though it still contracted again. (More stock market stories.)
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