Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
The Federal Reserve is front and center today, and the bond market is making its displeasure known. New Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh held rates steady, citing no tolerance for persistent inflation, and the thirty-year treasury responded by surging ten basis points to five point two one percent, its highest level in nineteen years. The Dow posted its worst single-day loss of the year.
That rate anxiety is rippling across equities, but Microsoft is offering some relief on the earnings front. CFO Amy Hood's internal memo following Wednesday's results touted meaningful progress in Azure cloud and Microsoft three sixty-five Copilot, two businesses that have faced serious scrutiny during the generative AI buildout. Investors are watching closely to see whether Microsoft follows Alphabet in expanding capital spending commitments.
Meta, however, is moving in the opposite direction on sentiment. Shares fell after the company reported declining profits and issued a weaker-than-expected sales forecast, putting fresh pressure on Mark Zuckerberg as Wall Street grows increasingly impatient with the scale of Meta's AI spending and the timeline for returns on that investment.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
