Stock market today: Nasdaq leads S&P 500, Dow higher as Microsoft, Meta earnings reassure
May 1, 2025
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Updated 6 mins ago
The Nasdaq led US stocks higher on Thursday as strong earnings from Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) eased fears about Big Tech’s prospects amid President Trump’s tariff upheaval.
The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose around 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led the gains rising more than 1.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) added about 0.3%, or nearly 150 points, extending its largest winning streak of the year.
Microsoft and Meta both topped Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit late Wednesday, relieving worries that Trump’s trade war would hit corporate spending on AI and cloud, as well as advertising. The stocks surged, up around 10% and 6%, respectively.
That sets the stage for more Big Tech reports from Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN), set to release results after the bell on Thursday.
Both of the “Magnificent Seven” megacaps have found themselves in the crosshairs of Trump’s trade offensive. Amazon reassured the White House this week that it won’t show the tariff hike in its product prices, while Apple is scrambling to shift iPhone production from China even as smartphones are exempted from steep duties on imports from there.
Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs
McDonald’s (MCD) pointed to the fallout from tariffs for consumers as it posted a first quarter earnings miss and slump in US sales. Americans are “grappling with uncertainty,” the fast-food giant’s CEO said. Shares fell 1.4%.
More broadly, markets welcomed signs of a thawing in the trade war that has driven fears of an economic slowdown — particularly after data on Wednesday showed US gross domestic product contracted in the first quarter. On Thursday, new data showed weekly filings for unemployment claims hit a two-month high at the end of April, while continuing claims hit their highest level since November 2021.
Beijing has reportedly signaled that the US has reached out to China to initiate trade talks, despite the White House’s insistence that President Xi must make the first move. At the same time, officials have hinted the Trump administration is closing in on announcing a first batch of trade deals.
Gold (GC=F) prices extended their drop into a third day, falling over 2% as traders slowed their rush for shelter from the trade uncertainty.
LIVE 15 updates
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The largest stock in the world is ripping higher on Thursday morning.
Microsoft (MSFT) popped as much as 10% at the market open on Thursday morning after a blowout earnings report for the tech giant on Wednesday night. Zooming out to a yearly chart, its a rather large move for a stock that had been essentially flat over the past year prior to today’s session.
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Microsoft Corp (MSFT)
Microsoft stock soared following Q3 earnings, popping 6.9% after handily trouncing Wall Street’s expectations. The tech giant saw earnings per share of $3.46 on revenue of $70 billion. Analysts were anticipating earnings of $3.21 on revenue of $68.4 billion,
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM)
Semiconducter giant Qualcomm saw share value drop 5.4% despite delivering stronger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results on Wednesday. Tariff concerns weigh heavily on the company with supply chain issues expected by market analysts.
QCOM reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.85, edging past Wall Street’s forecast of $2.82, Revenue also came in above expectations, reaching $10.84 billion, compared to analyst estimates of $10.66 billion.
Meta Platforms (META)
Shares in social media giant Meta jumped 5.5% in extended trading after a strong Q3 earnings report provided a boost to the company and the tech sector at large.
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