Tech Boost Lifts Wall Street Indices Amid Economic Uncertainty

Stocks rose today (May 1, 2025) as strong quarterly results from Microsoft and Meta alleviated concerns about artificial intelligence progress slowing amid economic turbulence. Specifically, the Dow Jones index on Wall Street increased by 0.21%, closing at 40,752.96 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.63% to close at 5,604.14 points, near levels seen before President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement in early April. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq climbed 1.52%, closing at 17,710.74 and erasing losses since April 2. Investor fears that Trump’s tariffs might threaten AI trade were eased after Meta Platforms reported higher-than-expected Q1 2025 revenues, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg stating they are ‘well-positioned to handle macroeconomic uncertainty.’ Microsoft also announced better-than-expected earnings for its third fiscal quarter. During their earnings call on Wednesday (April 30, 2025), Microsoft executives stated they expect increased capital expenditures moving forward as they expand data center capacity, emphasizing that ‘cloud and AI are essential tools for businesses to boost productivity, reduce costs, and accelerate growth.’ These results sent Microsoft shares up by 7.6%, while Meta shares strengthened by 4.2%. The information technology sector significantly outperformed the other ten sectors of the S&P 500, rising over 2%. ‘Few stocks are truly immune from Trump’s tariffs and trade war, but artificial intelligence is far less affected than investors believe,’ said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management. ‘We’re at the beginning of a very steep growth curve right now, and this applies to AI infrastructure as well.’