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U.S. stock futures rose sharply Wednesday night, driven by strong earnings reports from tech giants Microsoft and Meta Platforms. This positive momentum came after a choppy regular session where Wall Street posted modest gains despite weak economic data.
As of 8:13 p.m. ET, S&P 500 Futures were up 0.9% at 5,636.75, Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 1.4% to 19,931.50, and Dow Jones Futures added 0.4% to reach 40,932.00.
Meta (NASDAQ:META) jumped 5.7% in after-hours trading following upbeat Q1 earnings and an increase in full-year capital expenditure guidance to $64–72 billion. The Facebook and Instagram parent plans to expand AI-focused data centers to support future growth.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) also surged 7% post-market after reporting a 13% rise in quarterly revenue and projecting robust cloud growth of 34–35% in the fiscal Q4, reinforcing investor confidence in its AI-driven cloud strategy.
However, earlier in the day, U.S. GDP data surprised markets, showing a 0.3% annualized contraction in Q1, versus a 2.4% expansion in Q4. Analysts had expected modest growth of 0.2%. The downturn was partly due to a 41.3% spike in imports—the largest in five years—as buyers rushed to make purchases ahead of potential Trump-era tariffs.
Despite the economic miss, Wall Street indexes ended Wednesday with small gains. The Dow rose 0.4%, the S&P 500 edged up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq slipped 0.1%.
Investors now await earnings from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), due Thursday. Meanwhile, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) fell nearly 6% after weak global sales, and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) posted a profit decline. AI server firm Super Micro (NASDAQ:SMCI) dropped 11.5% after lowering its Q3 outlook.
