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Microsoft shares jump 16.6% after AI‑driven earnings, propelling the Nasdaq‑100 to its strongest session in over a year, adding $490 bn in market value.
Microsoft Corp. surged 16.6% on Thursday, delivering the Nasdaq‑100’s largest one‑day gain since May 2025 and adding roughly $490 bn in market value—the biggest single‑session capitalization increase on record [1]. The rally lifted the index by 351 bps, its strongest daily move in more than a year, and underscored the market’s belief that AI‑related capital spending is translating into earnings growth.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Index gain | +351 bps (Nasdaq‑100) |
| Microsoft move | +16.6% (largest daily rise since Oct 2008) |
| Market‑value added | ≈ $490 bn (beats Nvidia’s $440 bn record) |
| Sector impact | 10 stocks contributed 88% of the move |
Microsoft’s earnings beat expectations, showing accelerating Azure growth without a proportional rise in capital spending [1]. The company’s 16.6% jump alone contributed 73 bps of the index’s advance, reflecting its 5 % weight in the Nasdaq‑100. Lam Research posted an 18.5% gain after earnings and guidance topped forecasts, reinforcing confidence in wafer‑fabrication spending [1]. Semiconductor names such as Intel (+13.0%), AMD (+13.6%) and Nvidia (+2.0%) added further momentum, with the ten biggest contributors accounting for roughly 88 % of the index’s rise [1].
The broad‑based rally spilled over into other sectors, lifting the Nasdaq‑100 despite the broader market’s recent weakness. The Nasdaq Composite had been falling for four consecutive days, but the AI‑driven surge reversed that trend, highlighting how earnings from a single heavyweight can offset broader sectoral declines [2]. Meanwhile, leveraged ETFs tied to AI‑related chips have amassed record inflows, with SK Hynix‑focused products holding about $5.5 bn—showing that investors are channeling capital into the AI memory supply chain as well [3].
The session demonstrates that AI‑centric earnings can still generate outsized market moves, but the durability of the rally will hinge on whether the earnings momentum translates into broader spending and whether supply constraints in AI memory persist.
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AI-assisted synthesis by the TrendWatcher Editorial Desk · sourced from 4 outlets · Aug 4, 2026 · How we report
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