Market Bizzz

Amazon.com’s CFO Brian Olsavsky has told analysts that customers using its cloud services kept trying to slim down their bills during Q2 2021, meaning the company was helping them to do so to build long-term relationships. Consequently, revenue growth rates were about 5% points lower in April than in the first quarter. The news saw the entire gain in the stock rise vanish in just minutes of after-hours trading. The company’s surprise gain and subsequent fall illustrates a potentially precarious moment for the firm, which is facing a nascent threat from Microsoft and Google, which are rolling out high-profile artificial intelligence tools.

The Windows software maker rose as much as 8% Wednesday after reporting strong quarterly results as corporate cloud-computing demand remained resilient. If the gains hold, the company will add $151 billion in market value, the most in the company’s history, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Tech giants buoyed U.S. stock futures, despite fresh jitters surrounding the world’s two biggest economies. Following higher-than-anticipated profits and $70 billion in stock buybacks announced by Microsoft and Alphabet, Nasdaq futures were up 1.4% and S&P 500 futures up 0.5%. However, the Wall Street Journal’s Nick Timiraos warned the banking crisis wasn’t over, leading to a sharp drop in U.S. markets overnight. Bond yields fell sharply and interest rate futures markets are pricing in a higher chance of Fed rate cuts later in the year.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported Q1 2023 net profit of $15bn, beating market expectations, and recording revenue of almost $70bn, a billion higher than predicted. Although Alphabet has recently had to deal with a slowdown in advertising, it appears to be regaining ground. The same quarter where it laid off 12k employees, the tech giant’s share price has made a steady recovery since the cuts were announced in January. Meanwhile, Microsoft also pleased investors with Q1 results showing the popularity of its business cloud products, even as Windows software sales declined.

Gold prices hovered around the important mark of $2,000 per ounce as investors sought clarity on the trajectory of the Federal Reserve’s rate hike from US economic data. Spot gold remained at $1,999.09 per ounce, while US gold futures edged up 0.3% to $2,010.20. The upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting on 2-3 May was also being watched, as higher interest rates make gold less attractive compared to other investments. Silver ticked up 0.1% to $25.06 per ounce, platinum rose 0.7% to $1,094.12, and palladium climbed 1% to $1,498.95.

The stock emerged as a top gainer in the IT space. Continuing its prior rising trend, the stock rose to a 52-week high of Rs1,230. The key technical indicators formed a bearish divergence on the short-term timeframe chart.

On Monday, the Nasdaq closed lower, underperforming the S&P 500 and the Dow, with pressure from high-profile megacaps as investors awaited results from companies including Microsoft, while Tesla shares fell on concerns about its spending plans.