US: Nasdaq leaps 3.3% in tech rally after Meta results

LARGE tech shares soared on Thursday as better-than-expected results from Facebook parent Meta Platforms fueled hopes about forthcoming earnings from Apple and other giants.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 3.3 per cent at 12,200.82.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 per cent to 34,053.94, while the broad-based S&P 500 jumped 1.5 per cent to 4,179.76.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet and Amazon piled on more than seven per cent, while Apple gained 3.7 per cent in Thursday’s session ahead of earnings releases from all three companies.

Investors are hopeful after Meta surged nearly 25 per cent after reporting a smaller drop in annual sales than anticipated, as the company announced that the number of daily users on Facebook hit two billion for the first time.

Analysts also praised Meta’s cost-cutting measures, which is “reawakening the company as it returns to its profitable roots,” said Briefing.com.

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Investor sentiment was also boosted by hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon end its interest rate hiking cycle after announcing a smaller increase Wednesday amid progress on inflation.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s “dovish tone” on Wednesday sets the US central bank up for “one or two more quarter-point rate rises left in this rate hiking cycle,” said Oanda’s Edward Moya.

Wednesday’s Fed decision set the stage for Thursday rate hikes announced by the European Central Bank and Bank of England.

Investors are looking ahead to Friday’s government jobs report, expected to show the US economy added 190,000 jobs last month and that unemployment edged up to 3.6 percent from 3.5 per cent. AFP