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Informist, Friday, Jul. 31, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: US markets close higher, Microsoft leads tech stock gains

 

MUMBAI--0715 IST--Major US indices ended higher Thursday led by gains in semiconductor stocks fuelled by a 15% jump in Microsoft accompanied by double-digit gains in other technology stocks such as Advanced Micro Devices, Sandisk, and Micron Technology. These gains outpaced the fall in Meta, Qualcomm, and Apple. Meta fell nearly 8?ter it reported a 91?ll in free cash flow in the June quarter.

 

Microsoft rose sharply after its forecast for quarterly sales came in above expectations and it reported lower than estimated capital expenditure. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed nearly 3% higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed more than 1% higher and the S&P 500 closed nearly 2% higher.

 

"These are true battleground stocks. Investors can't make up their minds whether the ROI on the massive capex spending is going to be worthwhile or not," Reuters quoted Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management as saying. "Microsoft delivered yesterday, and maybe Microsoft is going to be able to move itself from the 'battleground' camp to be a 'trusted AI winner' stock."

 

US GDP growth slowed to 1.5% in the June quarter from 2.1% a quarter ago and was below economists' expectations. US bond yields rose, but traders are now expecting only a 59% chance that the US Federal Reserve will raise rates in September, down from 82% a week ago, Reuters reported.

 

Following are the levels of major US indices Thursday:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
Dow Jones Industrial Average	52208.06	1.2
NASDAQ Composite	25122.18	2.8
S&P 500	7437.63	1.7

 

(Deesha Jadhav)

 

US$1 = INR 95.68

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Pankaj Aher

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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