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S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures surged on Thursday, setting sights on fresh record stock highs after strong Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) earnings boosted faith in a payoff from Big Tech’s massive AI investments.
Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) climbed roughly 1.3%, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) rose almost 1%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) lagged, up 0.3%.
Meta shares shot up 12% in premarket, as investors welcomed its earnings beat and stronger-than-expected guidance even as it ramps up its AI spending spree. Microsoft stock jumped over 8% after its impressive results, on track to make the company the second in the world to reach a $4 trillion market valuation.
Markets are now looking to after-hours results from their “Magnificent Seven” peers Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) for reasons to keep the rally going.
On the macro front, investors will get another clue as to the possible direction of interest rates with the release of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index.
Stocks were mixed in during the day Wednesday after the Fed held interest rates steady for its fifth-straight meeting, with two Fed governors dissenting.
Following the decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed “no decisions” had been made about a September rate cut, undercutting President Trump’s claim he had heard a cut was coming at policymakers’ next meeting. Bets on a September cut fell below 40% on Thursday, according to the CME Group, down from about 60% before the meeting.
Meanwhile a flurry of trade deals eased trade-war fears on the eve of President Trump’s deadline on Friday. A pact with South Korea announced late Wednesday sets a 15% tariff rate on its imports. US exports will face zero duties in return, and Seoul has agreed to make $350 billion in US investment and pledged to buy US energy products, Trump wrote in a social media post.
LIVE 11 updates
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What’s in the US-EU trade deal depends on who is doing the talking
President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shook hands Sunday over a trade agreement. The White House did a victory lap, but days later, there are still plenty of disagreements about exactly what is in the pact.
Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul reports:
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A quirk in the Fed’s calendar puts extra pressure on the Sept. meeting
Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban takes a look at the Federal Reserve’s next move in today’s Morning Brief:
Read more here on how a long wait could result in a different outlook.
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Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
Economic data: Challenger jobs cuts (July); Personal income & spending (June); Core PCE price index; Employment cost index (second quarter); Initial jobless claims (week ending July 26)
Earnings: Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), Cigna (CI), Coinbase (COIN), CVS Health (CVS), Mastercard (MA), Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH), Reddit (RDDT), Roblox (RBLX), Roku (ROKU), Strategy (MSTR)
Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:
Trump knocks Canada as countries rush to strike trade deals
Trump tariffs face another legal test on eve of deadline
Apple faces 2 major threats ahead of earnings
What’s in the US-EU trade deal? It depends on who’s talking.
Fed calendar quirk raises the stakes for its Sept. meeting
Meta stock surges after earnings beat, guidance surprise
Microsoft on track for $4 trillion market cap after earnings beat
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Trending tickers: ARM, CVS and Confluent
Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading:
Arm (ARM) stock fell 6% on Thursday before the bell following the announcement of the chip tech provider’s plan to invest in its own chip development, which would bite into future profits, disappointed investors.
CVS (CVS) stock jumped 7% in premarket on Thursday after the company beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit.
Confluent Inc (CFLT) stock rose over 20% premarket following the company’s positive earnings report. The data streaming platform reported a 21% growth in subscription revenue and a 28% growth in Confluent Cloud revenue for Q2 2025.
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Carvana posts higher quarterly profit on record car sales
Shares in Carvana (CVNA) surged over 15% in premarket trading after the online used-car seller defied expectations with strong second quarter results and outlook.
Bloomberg reports:
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EBay stock rises as resilient consumers fuel strong sales forecast
EBay (EBAY) stock jumped on Thursday before the bell after the e-commerce company forecasted sales that topped analysts’ estimates, suggesting optimism for continued consumer resilience at a time of shifting US tariff proposals.
Bloomberg News reports:
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AB InBev shares slide on concern over sales volumes
Beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) stock slumped more than 9% before the bell on Thursday after reporting that its second quarter sales volumes fell more than expected due to weak demand in Brazil and China, adding to investor worries over industry growth and hitting its shares.
Reuters reports:
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Qualcomm on the move lower
Qualcomm’s (QCOM) not playing in the big-cap tech stock euphoria this morning led by Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) post earnings. Its shares are down 6% premarket.
The company’s earnings late Wednesday were fine. But the Street is calling out a few things that are giving the bears the win, for now.
This note from HSBC’s Ryan Mellor this morning captures it all nicely:
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This is remarkable on Meta
Meta’s (META) stock is rocking higher in premarket, to the tune of 12% after a monster quarter.
Got to love the market ignoring the capex stuff in its earnings release below, and focusing in on Meta’s revenue trends (strong).
“We currently expect 2025 capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, to be in the range of $66-72 billion, narrowed from our prior outlook of $64-72 billion and up approximately $30 billion year-over-year at the mid-point. While the infrastructure planning process remains highly dynamic, we currently expect another year of similarly significant capital expenditures dollar growth in 2026 as we continue aggressively pursuing opportunities to bring additional capacity online to meet the needs of our artificial intelligence efforts and business operations,” Meta said.
Bottom line: bull market … carry on!
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Microsoft earnings call: A quick take
A bit of a sleepy earnings call from Microsoft (MSFT) after the close, filled with the typical Satya Nadella tech jargon.
Bottom line is this: Azure sales crushed, and there was zero signs of peaking AI demand. That should be good enough for the bulls.
“We expect stock to trade up given continued large Azure growth beats and a positive AI trajectory even with continued capacity constraints. We think this also bodes well for other AI infrastructure names in our coverage (Oracle (ORCL), Coreweave (CRWV),” Citi analyst Tyler Radke said.
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Samsung Electronics chip business fell drastically in Q2
Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) saw a mammoth drop in profit from the chip-making arm of the electronics giant.
Bloomberg reports:
