Today is “Tech Re-Think Day” in markets, with solid earnings news from a pair of sector leaders helping stocks reverse yesterday’s losses. Gold and silver are up modestly along with crude oil, too. So are Treasuries and the dollar.
What Meta Platforms Inc. (META) took away from the tech sector Wednesday afternoon, Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) gave back late yesterday! Specifically, META laid an egg with its Q1 earnings report earlier this week, missing sales growth targets and warning about higher costs related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) investments. The news sent META shares plummeting more than 10%, shaving $132 billion off the company’s valuation in one day.
Data by YCharts
But then both Alphabet and Microsoft trounced estimates and showered tech investors with other bullish news. Microsoft delivered $2.94 per share in profit, ahead of the $2.83 average estimate on Wall Street. The company said AI services boosted growth at its Azure cloud services division by seven percentage points, continuing an upward climb this year.
For its part, Alphabet reported $1.89 per share in Q1 profit. That beat the average estimate of $1.53 per share. The company also announced its first-ever dividend of 20 cents per share per quarter, and said it would buy back another $70 billion of its own shares. Depending on where GOOGL closes today, the company’s valuation could rise by more than $230 billion – vastly eclipsing what META lost.
“Big Mining” may be getting bigger. Australian behemoth BHP Group Ltd. (BHP) announced a $39 billion bid for its UK-based rival Anglo American Plc (NGLOY) yesterday...and Anglo rejected the offer as too low today. That will likely lead to some kind of bidding war, given the generally bullish trend in commodities.
BHP is eager to boost its exposure to copper, which represents about 30% of Anglo American’s output. The metal is used in traditional industries like construction and manufacturing, but it’s also a key component in Electric Vehicles (EVs) and wind farms – helping it outperform other base metals.
