Big Tech Surges in Late Hours on Blowout Earnings: Markets Wrap
- Alphabet beats revenue estimates, announces dividend
- Microsoft sales, profit beat expectations on AI demand
The world’s largest technology companies soared in late trading as stellar results from Microsoft Corp. and Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. fueled confidence in Wall Street’s most-influential group.
A $250 billion exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq 100 (ticker: QQQ) climbed 1.2% after the close of regular trading. In a sigh of relief to investors worried about lofty valuations of the sector that has powered the bull market, Alphabet crushed sales estimates and announced a dividend. Its fellow megacap Microsoft also beat forecasts, lifted by corporate demand for the software maker’s cloud and artificial-intelligence offerings.