{"id":61421,"date":"2026-04-29T16:38:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/tech-giants-surge-on-ai-strength-as-powell-exits-and-markets-close-mixed\/61421\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T16:38:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:38:23","slug":"tech-giants-surge-on-ai-strength-as-powell-exits-and-markets-close-mixed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/tech-giants-surge-on-ai-strength-as-powell-exits-and-markets-close-mixed\/61421\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech Giants Surge on AI Strength as Powell Exits and Markets Close Mixed"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Big Tech dominated earnings<\/strong> as Microsoft (<a href=\"\/stock\/MSFT\">MSFT<\/a>), Amazon (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMZN\">AMZN<\/a>), and Alphabet (<a href=\"\/stock\/GOOGL\">GOOGL<\/a>) all comfortably beat revenue and profit estimates, driven by <strong>explosive growth in cloud computing and AI integration<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Microsoft (<a href=\"\/stock\/MSFT\">MSFT<\/a>) reported a 40% surge in Azure growth<\/strong>, providing definitive evidence that the company is successfully converting massive AI infrastructure investments into tangible revenue.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Meta (<a href=\"\/stock\/META\">META<\/a>) signaled a &quot;perpetual&quot; AI race<\/strong> by raising its spending outlook for the year, even as it posted a massive <strong>EPS of $10.44<\/strong> and an operating margin of <strong>41%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fed Chair Jerome Powell concluded his final press conference<\/strong>, marking the end of his tenure as head of the Federal Reserve on a day when the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/dowjones\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average fell 294 points<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Qualcomm (<a href=\"\/stock\/QCOM\">QCOM<\/a>) authorized a new $20 billion share buyback<\/strong> but issued cautious Q3 guidance that trailed analyst expectations, leading to a mixed reaction in late-session trading.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Big Tech Validates AI Spending Spree<\/h2>\n<p>The &quot;Magnificent Seven&quot; era showed continued dominance as the largest technology companies in the world proved that their AI bets are paying off. Microsoft (<a href=\"\/stock\/MSFT\">MSFT<\/a>) delivered a <strong>Q3 EPS of $4.27<\/strong>, beating the <strong>$4.03 estimate<\/strong>, on revenue of <strong>$82.89 billion<\/strong>. The standout figure was a <strong>40% growth rate for Azure<\/strong>, which eased investor concerns regarding the high costs of building AI data centers.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMZN\">AMZN<\/a>) also crushed expectations, posting <strong>Q1 EPS of $2.78<\/strong>, which was significantly higher than the <strong>$1.62 consensus<\/strong>. The company\u2019s <strong>operating income of $23.85 billion<\/strong> outpaced the <strong>$20.75 billion forecast<\/strong>, fueled by strong cloud demand. Amazon (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMZN\">AMZN<\/a>) now projects <strong>Q2 net sales between $194 billion and $199 billion<\/strong>, signaling continued momentum.<\/p>\n<p>Alphabet (<a href=\"\/stock\/GOOGL\">GOOGL<\/a>) reported <strong>Q1 revenue of $109.90 billion<\/strong>, surpassing the <strong>$107.1 billion estimate<\/strong>. While Google advertising revenue reached <strong>$72.58 billion<\/strong>, investors were most focused on the <strong>40% quarter-over-quarter growth in Gemini Enterprise<\/strong>, Alphabet&#39;s flagship AI offering for businesses.<\/p>\n<h2>Meta and Qualcomm: High Stakes and High Spending<\/h2>\n<p>Meta Platforms (<a href=\"\/stock\/META\">META<\/a>) posted a robust <strong>Q1 revenue of $56.31 billion<\/strong>, but the headline for investors was the company\u2019s decision to <strong>raise its capital expenditure outlook<\/strong>. Meta (<a href=\"\/stock\/META\">META<\/a>) is doubling down on its &quot;streak of plowing historic levels of investment&quot; into AI systems. Despite the spending, the company remains highly profitable, benefiting from an <strong>$8.03 billion income tax benefit<\/strong> during the quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Qualcomm (<a href=\"\/stock\/QCOM\">QCOM<\/a>) presented a more nuanced picture, reporting <strong>Q2 adjusted EPS of $2.65<\/strong> on revenue of <strong>$10.60 billion<\/strong>. While the company announced a massive <strong>$20 billion share buyback program<\/strong>, its Q3 guidance was soft. Qualcomm (<a href=\"\/stock\/QCOM\">QCOM<\/a>) expects <strong>Q3 revenue of $9.2 billion to $10.0 billion<\/strong>, falling short of the <strong>$10.26 billion analyst consensus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Ford and eBay Post Strong Beats<\/h2>\n<p>Outside of the mega-cap tech space, Ford Motor Co. (<a href=\"\/stock\/F\">F<\/a>) delivered a significant surprise with <strong>Q1 adjusted EPS of $0.66<\/strong>, nearly triple the <strong>$0.19 estimate<\/strong>. Ford (<a href=\"\/stock\/F\">F<\/a>) maintained its full-year <strong>adjusted free cash flow guidance of $5 billion to $6 billion<\/strong>, suggesting stability in its turnaround efforts.<\/p>\n<p>eBay (<a href=\"\/stock\/EBAY\">EBAY<\/a>) also outperformed, with <strong>Q1 net revenue of $3.09 billion<\/strong> and <strong>Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of $22.2 billion<\/strong>, both exceeding expectations. The e-commerce platform saw its active buyer count rise to <strong>136 million<\/strong>, slightly ahead of the <strong>135.1 million forecast<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Powell\u2019s Exit and Market Reaction<\/h2>\n<p>The trading day was overshadowed by the end of an era at the Federal Reserve. <strong>Chair Jerome Powell concluded his final press conference<\/strong> following the April FOMC meeting. <em>The transition comes at a time of heightened geopolitical tension and a shifting economic landscape.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Despite the wave of positive earnings, the broader markets finished in the red. The <strong>Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 294.21 points (0.60%) at 48,847.72<\/strong>, while the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/sp500\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a> slipped 0.09% to end at 7,132.63<\/strong>. <em>Market participants appeared to be balancing the strong corporate results against the uncertainty of a post-Powell Federal Reserve.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In geopolitical news, <strong>BP and Venezuela signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)<\/strong> for gas exploration, while <strong>Iranian State TV<\/strong> reported that retribution for a recently slain leader remains a priority, keeping energy markets on edge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Big Tech dominated earnings as Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Alphabet (GOOGL) all comfortably beat revenue and profit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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