U.S. and European stocks closed higher Wednesday ahead of post-market results from Alphabet and Microsoft, whose cloud businesses grew quickly while their company-wide cash-flow figures diverged.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 7,743.98 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.3% to 26,549.85, the Associated Press reported. Reuters reported that the STOXX 600 gained 0.07% to 644.14. The Federal Reserve held its target federal funds rate at 3.75% to 4% in a 10-2 vote.
South Korean chipmaker SK hynix reported preliminary third-quarter 2026 revenue of 104.6155 trillion won and operating profit of 83.3338 trillion won. The company said long-term agreements covered more than half of its production capacity for 2027 and 2028. The Associated Press reported its shares rose 10.9% Wednesday.
Alphabet reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $127.577 billion, up 25% from a year earlier. Google Cloud revenue increased 103% to $30.709 billion. The company generated $42.290 billion in operating cash flow and spent $51.355 billion on property and equipment, resulting in negative free cash flow of $9.065 billion.
Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said the company’s 2026 capital-spending outlook remained $195 billion to $205 billion and that spending would rise significantly in 2027. Alphabet expects to give more detail on next year’s spending during its fourth-quarter earnings call.
Microsoft reported $92.3 billion in revenue, up 19%, for its fiscal first quarter of 2027, which ended Sept. 30, 2026. Azure revenue grew 48%. Microsoft reported $58 billion in operating cash flow and $39.367 billion in additions to property and equipment. Reuters calculated free cash flow of $18.6 billion and reported that it was about $10 billion above analyst expectations.
The reported cash-flow and equipment-spending figures cover each company as a whole; they do not identify an AI-only share. Together, the results raise a question about how well cloud growth can support further infrastructure investment. FXStreet cited Danske Bank strategists who said unchanged spending guidance may provide less support for data-center and semiconductor suppliers’ earnings forecasts than in previous quarters.
