The Magnificent Seven are riding to the rescue once again.
Two of the handful of huge technology companies that drove market gains in 2023 and 2024, posted earnings that smashed expectations after the bell on Wednesday. Stock market futures were rising sharply early Thursday.
Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, and Windows software maker Microsoft provided the most recent pleasant surprise this week following strong results from Google-parent Alphabet on Friday. Apple and Amazon report later today. Along with Tesla, they make up the group of tech giants known as the Mag 7.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 extended their winning streaks to seven days. For the S&P, the broadest market gauge, it’s the biggest-seven-day gain since 2020.
Of course, the worries that plagued traders for much of April haven’t entirely gone away. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs are still scheduled to come into effect in July, so it remains a cloud hanging over the outlook. The economy contracted in the first quarter, and the Federal Reserve hasn’t given an indication about when it might lower interest rates to shore up growth.
“Wall Street is set to power higher as buds of May optimism unfurl helped by big tech strength,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown in London. “The economy and the markets are behaving erratically in this unpredictable climate, so until the clouds clear a little, the Fed looks highly likely to keep interest rates on hold next week.”
Futures tracking the Dow added 329 points, or 0.8%, before the market opened. S&P futures climbed 1.2%, and contracts tracking the Nasdaq 100 were up 1.8%.
Yields on government bonds extended declines for the week. The benchmark 10-year Treasury was at 4.16%, having started Monday at around 4.25%. The 2-year note was at 3.617%.
The dollar was strengthening. The dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of peers, rose 0.5%.
