Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) reports fiscal fourth-quarter results tonight, with analysts largely centering their attention on capital expenditures as the company continues its aggressive buildout of AI infrastructure. Bank of America analysts said "AI execution remains the central debate"...
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A single capital spending number from Microsoft could either rescue a $700 billion AI trade from its worst selloff in months or confirm that the boom is finally running out of steam. Every chipmaker on five continents is watching.
Traders are expecting big swings from tech earnings on Wednesday, with options pricing in major after-market risks and short sellers lining up to bet against one of the market’s biggest stocks. Microsoft shares, which have fallen more than 15% from their early June peak and remain nearly 25% lower over the past year, are likely to move more than 6.6% in either direction after tonight’s June-quarter earnings, well ahead of its three-year average of around 4.8%. Short sellers, meanwhile, are crowding into the stock, with bets against the tech and cloud giant representing around 92 million shares, or 1.27% of its outstanding float, according to data from S3 Partners.
The latest oil spike was sending the Dow tumbling, but the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision and a gauntlet of earnings loom. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 700 points, or 1.3%. The S&P 500 was down 0.
(Bloomberg) -- As Big Tech barrels toward trillions of dollars of planned spending on AI, a key cog in credit markets is showing signs of pressure. That, in turn, is lifting the cost of financing artificial intelligence while offering an early look at potential winners and losers.Most Read from BloombergUS Intercepts Iran Attack on Bases, Puncturing Days of CalmSK Hynix Profit Disappoints, Spending Soars to $31 BillionApple Set to Make Big Smart Home Push With Siri AI at CenterNvidia’s $750 Bill
Options imply a 6.6% move after earnings.
Major U.S. technology companies are borrowing heavily as they ramp up spending on their artificial intelligence buildout, and at steadily higher yields as investors become more selective about absorbing the growing supply. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Oracle issued about $194 billion of bonds in 2026 through July 7, up 79% from roughly $108 billion in all of 2025, according to a Reuters analysis of LSEG data. Goldman Sachs expects bond issuance by the five hyperscalers, including Microsoft Corp, to reach roughly $250 billion this year and $400 billion in 2027.
Stock Market Today: The Dow Jones index dropped Wednesday ahead of the Fed decision and Fed Chair Warsh's comments. SK Hynix sold off.
Wall Street faces a twin set of risks on Wednesday, tied to Big Tech earnings and a Federal Reserve interest-rate decision, as stocks undergo a rare change of leadership ahead of the summer market doldrums. “The market’s response to both should provide a clearer indication of whether the current rotation continues or begins to develop into broader weakness,” said Zaheer Anwari, co-founder and CEO of the Luxembourg-based Revacy Fund.
By Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur July 29 (Reuters) - S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures inched higher on Wednesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's monetary policy verdict against a backdrop of
Wall Street futures were mostly higher pre-bell Wednesday as the global tech sector sell-off paused,
U. S. stock futures traded close to unchanged on Wednesday as investors prepared for a pivotal session featuring the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision and quarterly earnings from artificial intelligence leaders Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Britain's antitrust regulator said it would investigate Microsoft over whether it misled personal and family customers when marketing subscription plans for its ever-popular Microsoft 365 product, resulting in them overpaying. The Competition and Markets Authority said on Wednesday the probe would examine Microsoft's addition of its AI assistant Copilot to Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Personal and family customers were initially offered Copilot at no extra cost, but some later faced higher-priced subscriptions when renewing.
Options traders expect a roughly $190 billion swing in Microsoft's market value after it reports earnings on Wednesday, an unusually large move that underscores investors' growing eagerness to see if billions of dollars in AI spending are beginning to pay off. By comparison, over the last 12 earnings cycles, Microsoft has averaged a 4.8% implied move and a 4.4% actual move, Option Research & Technology Services (ORATS) data showed. The significantly higher pricing this quarter suggests that investors view Microsoft — one of the hyperscalers whose massive AI capital spending is at the heart of this year's AI rally and the broader bull market — as central to the AI earnings story.
Tech giant Microsoft is set to report earnings today after the market close, and investors will be listening to hear whether the company expects to maintain the rapid growth at its cloud business, Azure. In its last quarterly earnings call, Microsoft said it expected roughly $190 billion in capex this calendar year, but the firm only spent about $30 billion in the first three months of the year. Microsoft shares closed up 1.1% yesterday, but they are 19% lower so far this year.
SK Hynix reported a record operating profit of 60.54 trillion won (about $41.66 billion) in the second quarter, up 557% from the a year earlier. Its operating margin was 76%, up from 41% a year earlier. Analyst expectations for operating profit were even higher, and the miss fueled investors' concerns that SK Hynix's rival Samsung is pricing its products more aggressively, Jefferies wrote.
Retail sentiment remains ‘bearish’ on SPY and QQQ. Further weakness in QQQ will put it on track for the longest losing streak since August 2025.
By Niket Nishant and Ankur Banerjee July 29 (Reuters) - Global shares struggled to push higher on Wednesday, as modest gains in Europe and the U.S. did little to soothe investors spooked by a
Stocks were on track to open a touch higher Wednesday as investors shrugged off a rally in oil prices ahead of the Federal Reserve’s July interest-rate decision. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 41 points, or 0.1%. This could be a crucial day for the market, with the Fed set to announce its policy decision and mega-cap tech companies Meta and Microsoft due to report earnings after the closing bell.
Today Federal Reserve meeting: Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET, following the FOMC interest-rate decision at 2 p.m. Earnings (a.m): Procter & Gamble, Humana, L3Harris, Biogen, General Dynamics, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Airbus Earnings (p.
Sony is set to be a major beneficiary of the launch of "Grand Theft Auto VI" but the highly anticipated game is landing as the PlayStation maker grapples with rising prices of memory chips. The Japanese entertainment conglomerate, widely seen as the winner of the high-end console wars as Microsoft's Xbox business retrenches, has a long history with Take-Two Interactive Software, which will launch its delayed "GTA VI" on November 19. "GTA VI will be console only and the vast majority of new users will choose a PlayStation 5," said Serkan Toto, founder of Kantan Games consultancy.
As investors await Microsoft Corp’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) quarterly results, Gene Munster argues the company’s long-term AI strategy—not its near-term earnings—will determine whether it can maintain its market leadership. Munster Says Microsoft’s AI Transition Matters More Than Earnings Ahead of Microsoft’s earnings report on Wednesday, Deepwater Asset Management’s managing partner said that Wall Street is focused on the wrong metric, arguing that the software giant’s biggest challenges lie years ahead
Jensen Huang had never posted on X before July 24. His first post on the platform wasn't about chips or Nvidia's earnings or the next GPU architecture. It was a letter. An open letter signed by more than 20 tech companies, including Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, Google, OpenAI, Hugging Face, Mistral, ...