US stock futures surged on Thursday as investors weighed a new trade deal with South Korea and strong earnings from Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT).
S&P 500 futures (ES=F) rose 1.1%, while those on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) moved up 0.4%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) jumped 1.5% after quarterly reports from Meta and Microsoft wowed Wall Street late Wednesday, sending the stocks of both tech giants soaring.
Meta impressed investors with an earnings beat as well as stronger-than-expected guidance even as the company ramps up its AI spending spree. Microsoft also posted impressive results, showcasing the company’s strength in cloud computing and AI.
Later on Thursday, Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) will report their earnings results.
On the macro front, investors will get another clue as to the possible direction of interest rates with the release of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index.
Stocks were mixed in during the day Wednesday after the Fed held interest rates steady for its fifth-straight meeting, with two Fed governors dissenting.
Following the decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed “no decisions” had been made about a September rate cut, undercutting Trump’s claim he had heard a September rate cut was coming.
Easing trade war fears also buoyed markets after the US struck a flurry of trade deals on the eve of President Trump’s tariff deadline.
On Wednesday, Trump announced the US had made a pact with South Korea that imposes a 15% tariff rate on its imports. US exports to the country will not be charged a tariff, according to Trump’s post on Truth Social.
“South Korea will be completely OPEN TO TRADE with the United States,” the president wrote.
Trump said that South Korea also agreed to $350 billion in US investments as well as purchases of liquified natural gas and other energy products.
LIVE 7 updates
-
Carvana posts higher quarterly profit on record car sales
Shares in Carvana (CVNA) surged over 15% in premarket trading after the online used-car seller defied expectations with strong second quarter results and outlook.
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
-
EBay stock rises as resilient consumers fuel strong sales forecast
EBay (EBAY) stock jumped on Thursday before the bell after the e-commerce company forecasted sales that topped analysts’ estimates, suggesting optimism for continued consumer resilience at a time of shifting US tariff proposals.
Bloomberg News reports:
Read more here.
-
AB InBev shares slide on concern over sales volumes
Beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) stock slumped more than 9% before the bell on Thursday after reporting that its second quarter sales volumes fell more than expected due to weak demand in Brazil and China, adding to investor worries over industry growth and hitting its shares.
Reuters reports:
Read more here.
-
Qualcomm on the move lower
Qualcomm’s (QCOM) not playing in the big-cap tech stock euphoria this morning led by Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) post earnings. Its shares are down 6% premarket.
The company’s earnings late Wednesday were fine. But the Street is calling out a few things that are giving the bears the win, for now.
This note from HSBC’s Ryan Mellor this morning captures it all nicely:
-
This is remarkable on Meta
Meta’s (META) stock is rocking higher in premarket, to the tune of 12% after a monster quarter.
Got to love the market ignoring the capex stuff in its earnings release below, and focusing in on Meta’s revenue trends (strong).
“We currently expect 2025 capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, to be in the range of $66-72 billion, narrowed from our prior outlook of $64-72 billion and up approximately $30 billion year-over-year at the mid-point. While the infrastructure planning process remains highly dynamic, we currently expect another year of similarly significant capital expenditures dollar growth in 2026 as we continue aggressively pursuing opportunities to bring additional capacity online to meet the needs of our artificial intelligence efforts and business operations,” Meta said.
Bottom line: bull market … carry on!
-
Microsoft earnings call: A quick take
A bit of a sleepy earnings call from Microsoft (MSFT) after the close, filled with the typical Satya Nadella tech jargon.
Bottom line is this: Azure sales crushed, and there was zero signs of peaking AI demand. That should be good enough for the bulls.
“We expect stock to trade up given continued large Azure growth beats and a positive AI trajectory even with continued capacity constraints. We think this also bodes well for other AI infrastructure names in our coverage (Oracle (ORCL), Coreweave (CRWV),” Citi analyst Tyler Radke said.
-
Samsung Electronics chip business fell drastically in Q2
Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) saw a mammoth drop in profit from the chip-making arm of the electronics giant.
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
