Global risk sentiment improved today. Oil prices continued to retreat, easing concerns about energy-driven inflation and higher interest rates. The yen strengthened sharply as intervention expectations grew, temporarily reducing the risk of disorderly currency moves. Strong earnings from Microsoft and Amazon also gave investors more confidence that some AI spending is already producing revenue. Several pressures that had weighed on technology stocks are now easing at the same time. The next test is whether this rebound can gain sustained support from earnings, cash flow and the macro environment. 1. Lower oil gives growth stocks some breathing room The earlier surge in oil prices raised concerns that energy costs would push inflation higher again and reduce the Federal Reserve’s room to ea

Microsoft and Meta reported earnings on the same night. Both are spending heavily on AI infrastructure, both raised or maintained aggressive investment plans, and both delivered strong revenue growth. The market still gave them opposite verdicts. $Microsoft(MSFT)$ rose more than 8% after hours as Azure growth, Copilot adoption and a strong outlook convinced investors that its AI spending is already generating measurable returns. $Meta Platforms(META)$ fell roughly 9% in premarket trading after free cash flow collapsed and capital expenditure remained close to record levels. Meta’s advertising business is still growing quickly, but investors want a clearer answer on how its enormous compute buildout will c

$Microsoft(MSFT)$’s fiscal fourth-quarter report delivered something investors have been demanding from the largest AI spenders: evidence that infrastructure investment is translating into faster customer adoption, contracted revenue and cash generation. Microsoft reported on July 29 for the quarter ended June 30. Revenue increased 18% to $90.0 billion, while operating income rose 18% to $40.6 billion. Full-year revenue reached $331.8 billion. Microsoft’s official fiscal-fourth-quarter release provides the results. Azure revenue increased 43%, exceeding the approximately 40% expected. Management projected 45% constant-currency Azure growth for the September quarter, also above expectations. Microsoft 365 Copilot reached more than 30 million paid s

For months, investors have been asking the same question: Can Big Tech keep pouring billions into AI without crushing cash flow? $Microsoft(MSFT)$ may have just delivered the strongest answer yet. Microsoft reported another standout quarter. Q4 revenue reached $90 billion, up 18% year over year, beating expectations by roughly $2.4 billion. Adjusted EPS also came in ahead of forecasts at $4.74. Azure continued to fire on all cylinders with 43% growth, while Microsoft Cloud revenue climbed to $59.3 billion. But the number that grabbed everyone's attention wasn't revenue. It was capital spending. Microsoft invested $35.8 billion into AI infrastructure in just one quarter, bringing full-year CapEx to $115.9 billion. Yet despite spending at that scale