S&P 500 Climbs as Tech Jumps Despite Microsoft Warning

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By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com -- The S&P 500 rose Thursday, recovering from early-day losses after Microsoft warned on performance, and the Federal Reserve signaled that it isn’t considering pausing its rates hikes later this year.

The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7%, or 219 points, and the Nasdaq jumped 2.2%.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) slashed its outlook for fourth-quarter profit and revenue as a strong dollar is expected to hold back growth in its international business, which account for more than half of revenue. Its shares were flat. 

The tech giant now expects earnings in a range of $2.24 and $2.32 per share, down from a prior forecast of $2.28 to $2.35 per share. Revenue for the quarter was lowered to between $51.94 billion and $52.74 billion, down from a prior range of $52.40 billion to $53.20 billion.

Other tech stocks recovered from an early-day slump, led by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB) as investors bought the dip that followed an announcement on Wednesday from the social media company that Sheryl Sandberg was stepping down as chief operating officer later this year.

Tech was also supported by a breather in Treasury yields even as the Federal Reserve Vice President Lael Brainard downplayed expectations that the Fed could pause rate hikes in September.

"Right now, it is very hard to see the case for a pause" in September, Brainard said. "We still have a lot to do to bring inflation down to our 2% target."

The remarks came on the heels of the data showing fewer than expected private job gains for May.

Private payrolls grew by 128,000 in May, a decline from the 202,000 in April, according to a report released Thursday by ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) and Moody's Analytics. That was well below economists’ forecast of 300,000.

The private payrolls report, which has at times served as a precursor to the nonfarm payrolls for May, expected to be released on Friday, isn’t a reliable indicator.

“On the face of it, therefore, the report appears to support our below-consensus forecast for tomorrow’s official number, but ADP is not a reliable indicator of the official payroll numbers,” Pantheon Macroeconomics said.

Energy stocks were lower even as oil prices rose more than 1% after OPEC and its allies agreed to increase output in July and August. 

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO), APA (NASDAQ:APA), Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) were among the biggest gainers in the energy sector.

In other news, GameStop (NYSE:GME) rose nearly 10% after reporting a wider than expected loss that  “was almost entirely driven by higher SG&A expenses as management continued to aggressively hire professionals across blockchain gaming, ecommerce and technology, and operations,” Wedbush said in a note.