U.S. stock futures moved up ahead of Thursday’s session, with Alphabet and Amazon getting a lift from upbeat cloud numbers. Meta and Microsoft, on the other hand, lost ground as concerns lingered about costs tied to ramping up AI. As of 6:46 a.m. EDT, Dow Jones mini futures had climbed 351 points, S&P 500 mini futures were ahead by 13.5, and Nasdaq 100 minis gained 66.25, according to Bloomberg market data.
There’s little room for delays. The Bureau of Economic Analysis is set to publish its advance look at first-quarter GDP and March’s personal income and outlays at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Included in the data: the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, a key gauge of consumer spending on goods and services.
The numbers dropped less than 24 hours after the Federal Reserve kept rates steady between 3.50% and 3.75%, noting inflation remains “elevated”—with global energy prices doing part of the work. The Fed flagged increased uncertainty tied to developments in the Middle East, a factor traders are now stacking up against fresh megacap earnings. Federal Reserve
Premarket action was a mixed bag. Alphabet gained 6.1% and Amazon edged up 1.9%, Reuters said, but Meta slid 8% and Microsoft lost 1.9%. Investors zeroed in on capital spending — that’s outlays for data centers, chips, and other big-ticket assets — as the main flashpoint.
Alphabet delivered a straightforward set of numbers. Revenue jumped 22% to $109.9 billion, with Google Cloud surging 63% to hit $20 billion. “Our enterprise AI solutions have become our primary growth driver for cloud for the first time,” CEO Sundar Pichai told analysts, Reuters reported. KELO-AM
Analysts jumped on that detail. Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com, argued that Alphabet’s cloud momentum gave weight to the company’s $180 billion in capital spending. Forrester principal analyst Lee Sustar noted that after years in the red, Google Cloud proved it could “significantly contribute” to Alphabet’s overall business. KELO-AM
Amazon shares pushed futures higher after reporting that first-quarter net sales climbed 17% to $181.5 billion, with AWS revenue jumping 28% to $37.6 billion. CEO Andy Jassy noted AWS’s growth was the strongest in 15 quarters, and highlighted that Amazon’s chip unit has now hit a $20 billion annual revenue run rate.
Microsoft posted impressive numbers: revenue climbed 18% to $82.9 billion, Azure and other cloud revenue jumped 40%, and AI business annual run rate cleared $37 billion. Still, shares slipped. Investors zeroed in on the spending required to keep that momentum going.
Meta faced a tougher version of the same issue. Revenue surged 33% to $56.31 billion—Mark Zuckerberg dubbed it a “milestone quarter”—but the company hiked its 2026 capital spending target, now projecting $125 billion to $145 billion instead of the prior $115 billion to $135 billion. That bigger spending plan overshadowed the earnings beat, knocking the stock lower. PR Newswire
Oil’s still the outlier this morning. Brent crude climbed 2.3% earlier, according to Reuters, as traders grew anxious about longer-term supply risks linked to Iran. Warren Patterson, who heads commodities strategy at ING Economics, described the shift as a move from “over-optimism” to “the reality of the supply disruption.” Reuters
Futures might not hold their early gains once the data hits. If PCE runs hotter or oil prices push higher, that could reinforce the Fed’s cautious stance; remember, four officials dissented at Wednesday’s meeting—three of them objected to the statement’s easing bias.
GDP likely posted a 2.3% annualized gain for the first quarter, according to a Reuters survey of economists, though consumer spending appears to have lost some momentum. “We remain in relatively slow growth mode,” said Boston College economics professor Brian Bethune. Reuters
Traders are juggling three factors at the open: fresh GDP and inflation data could either soothe or stoke those rate jitters; oil prices remain a wildcard; and AI-related stocks still only seem to get a bid when the top line shows up in the numbers. Apple’s results are still on deck, with the megacap story sticking around at least until after Thursday’s bell.
