US stock futures rose on Friday, on track for weekly wins as Wall Street embraced strong earnings from Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) that eased doubts about prospects for Big Tech.
S&P 500 futures (ES=F) gained 0.7%, while those on the Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) surged 1.3%. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F), which includes fewer tech stocks, wobbled along the flatline.
Amazon stock soared almost 13% in premarket trading after its third quarter results easily topped analysts’ forecasts. In particular, its cloud division, Amazon Web Services, posted a 20% jump in revenue, signaling renewed strength in enterprise demand. Apple’s (AAPL) stronger-than-expected results helped lift its shares, as did its upbeat guidance for the all-important holiday quarter.
The mood on techs has turned following a rough day on Wall Street that saw the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) lose 1% and 1.6%, respectively. Meta (META) suffered its steepest one-day drop in three years thanks to pushback over its AI spending spree.
Elsewhere in tech, Nvidia (NVDA) shares rebounded, up near 2% in premarket as the company made a fresh push into South Korea, saying it would supply as many as 260,000 of its AI chips to companies and the country’s government. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also said he was “hopeful” about the one-year trade truce struck between the US and China and its implications for the company being able to sell its flagship Blackwell chip in China.
Later Friday, Federal Reserve officials will step up to speak. Investors are still assessing the fallout from their meeting this week, which brought the expected interest-rate cut and revealed deepening divisions among policymakers on the path forward.
LIVE 6 updates
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Western Digital, Seagate jump as AI-driven demand spikes
Seagate (STX) and Western Digital (WDC) are rising on the heels of upbeat earnings, building on this year’s AI-fueled rally for the companies.
The two stocks are the second- and third-highest percentage gainers this year on the S&P 500 (^GSPC), only behind trading platform operator Robinhood (HOOD), per Reuters.
Reuters reports:
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Google is finding answers to its AI questions
Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban reports:
If Google has already moved past its most perilous legal challenge and wiggled out of the perception of playing catch-up to its rivals, the remaining question is one of search economics: How can Google make money from AI without dismantling the foundation of its search business?
In every quarter this year, and most resoundingly this week, Google’s answer to that existential question is that AI will expand its users’ appetites for information.
Google’s AI assistant, AI overviews, and AI Mode may eventually supplant the legacy search bar that has built the company. But the search giant’s first $100 billion quarter suggests cannibalization isn’t the right frame for Google’s AI transition. Augmentation is more like it. …
“Alphabet’s execution on artificial intelligence, evidenced by strong traction for its Gemini app, which has more than 650 million monthly users, along with its ability to deliver solid advertising revenue, continues to drive results while refuting the AI-led disruption narrative,” Morningstar senior equity analyst Malik Ahmed Khan wrote in a note on Thursday. …
Investors’ reaction to Big Tech’s nonstop capex spree can seem fickle. But a reliable way to win approval is to present dazzling earnings, softening the blow of a bigger AI bill, or in Google’s case, showing that even gargantuan investments are already paying off.
Read more here in the takeaway from today’s Morning Brief.
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Apple and Amazon stock rise after earnings beat
Big Tech earnings from Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) were released on Thursday after the bell, with both tech giants beating Wall Street estimates.
Apple’s fourth quarter earnings beat on the top and bottom lines, but iPhone sales fell short of expectations. Apple’s stock rose more than 1% before the bell on Friday.
Amazon’s stock jumped 12% in premarket trading, as investors applauded the e-commerce company’s earnings beat.
Yahoo Finance tech editor Daniel Howley reports on the latest earnings releases from Big Tech.
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Premarket moves: Reddit, Rocket and Strategy
Reddit (RDDT) stock rose 12% before the bell on Friday after releasing its third-quarter earnings on Thursday, reporting a rise in daily active users (DAUs) of 19% to 116 million during the third quarter from the same period last year.
Rocket (RKLB) stock rose 7% in premarket trading on Friday after earnings and revenue beat Wall Street estimates.
Strategy (MSTR) stock gained 6% before the bell after reporting third quarter profit of $8.42 a share compared with a prior year loss of $1.72. The company said its Bitcoin (BTC-USD) holdings rose to 640,808 in the period.
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Alcohol stocks take $830 billion hit as drinking habits change
Bloomberg reports:
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Gold maintains as traders assess US-China truce
Bloomberg reports:
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