U.S. stocks were rising as Microsoft and Alphabet kick off tech earnings
Investing.com — U.S. stocks were mostly rising ahead of quarterly earnings reports from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), which could shed more light on the state of business spending on big tech.
At 9:41 ET (13:41 GMT) Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 9 points, or flat, while the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 0.4%.
The two tech giants are expected to report strength in their cloud businesses as businesses spend on tech. Analysts also hope to see an improvement in digital advertising, and they want to hear more about AI spending and strategy.
Investors have pushed the Nasdaq up 34% so far this year on the promise of AI technology to be the next transformative trend in the sector.
Tech stocks are also getting a boost from expectations that the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its interest rate increases, though it is expected to announce another quarter of a percentage point hike when its two-day meeting ends tomorrow.
Investors will be listening closely to what Fed Chair Jerome Powell says during his press conference tomorrow for clues on the Fed’s next rate move later this year. Futures traders are divided on whether the Fed will end its rate hikes after this month or raise another quarter of a point at one of its fall meetings.
Later today, consumer confidence numbers are out. They will be followed this week by reports on gross domestic product for the second quarter, initial jobless claims, and the personal consumption expenditures index, a key inflation gauge.
In other stock moves on Tuesday, General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) was rising 6% after it raised its adjusted profit outlook. It is forecasting solid demand from airlines for engine
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