NEW YORK — Stocks clawed back most of the previous session’s losses Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite finishing 2.8% higher at 25,122.18 to end a six-day losing streak, the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 613.92 points, or 1.2%, to close at 52,208.06, and the S&P 500 climbing 1.7% to settle at 7,437.63.
The rebound came one day after the Dow shed 1,153.18 points, or 2.19%, for its steepest single-day decline since April 2025, as the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and the bond market responded with the 10-year Treasury yield climbing seven basis points above 4.67% and the 30-year rising 10 basis points past 5.2%.
Thursday’s move was driven almost entirely by a single earnings report. Microsoft shares jumped 16% after the company reported growth in its Azure cloud business — cloud revenue rose 43%, the fastest pace since 2022, while capital spending guidance came in below the levels investors had feared, easing concern that AI buildout costs were running out of control.
That combination mattered more than the headline number. The market has spent weeks punishing companies whose AI spending appears open-ended, and Microsoft delivered the rarer pairing of accelerating revenue and restrained capital expenditure. Semiconductor stocks rallied roughly 8% as a group, and the Nasdaq 100 added 3.2% a day after entering a technical correction. Investors largely set aside fresh U.S. strikes on Iran, the bond selloff, and lingering questions about AI capital spending.
Not everything participated. Meta Platforms fell after issuing a disappointing forecast, while Oracle advanced on an expanded artificial intelligence partnership with Google’s Gemini.
The economic data landed mixed. Second-quarter gross domestic product expanded just 1.5%, below the 1.8% economists had projected and down from 2.1% in the first quarter. The personal consumption expenditures price index fell 0.1% on the month, leaving annual inflation at 3.7%, while core PCE rose 0.1% monthly for an annual rate of 3.3%. Jobless claims for the week ended July 25 came in at 197,000, up 9,000 from the prior week’s revised figure.
Slower growth alongside a still-elevated core inflation rate is the uncomfortable arithmetic the Fed is now working with, and it explains why Wednesday’s hold unsettled the bond market rather than reassuring it.
Market Movers
- Microsoft — up roughly 16%, the day’s single largest contributor across all three major indexes
- Caterpillar — up 3.26%
- Amazon — up 2.85%
- Meta Platforms — down close to 8% on a soft forward outlook
- Nike — down 3.89%
- Johnson & Johnson — down 2.54%
- Walt Disney — down 2.53%
Apple reports quarterly results after the closing bell. The company briefly crossed a $5 trillion market capitalization on Tuesday for the first time, a day after overtaking Nvidia as the most valuable publicly traded company, with shares up 25% on the year.
Commodities
Crude eased after a volatile overnight session. Brent settled around $90.04 a barrel, off 0.78% on the day, though it remains up nearly 26% over the past month. Brent had reached $92.65 by 6:30 a.m. Eastern before giving back the advance. West Texas Intermediate traded near $84.03, down 0.51%.
The supply picture continues to tighten. U.S. Central Command reported a major wave of strikes on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sites, Houthi forces continued to threaten Saudi Arabia, and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium suspended loadings at its Black Sea terminal after two associated tankers were attacked overnight. American Petroleum Institute data showed crude inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels last week.
Gold held its recent range. August futures opened at $4,060.70 per troy ounce, up 0.6% from Wednesday’s close, and traded near $4,130.90 by mid-morning. The metal had touched a nine-month low near $3,975 in mid-July before recovering past $4,100 following the Fed’s decision.
The volatility index fell more than 10% to the mid-18s, and the dollar index slipped 0.85% to 99.875.
The setup into Friday is straightforward: Apple’s numbers land tonight, oil remains hostage to the Gulf, and the bond market has yet to signal it accepts the Fed’s read on inflation.
JBizNews Desk | Wall Street
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