By Heard Editors

What Happened in Markets Today

Tech companies reported bumper earnings, driven partly by the AI boom. The Nasdaq closed 0.9% higher while the S&P 500 rose 1.1%. Alphabet could soon become the world's most valuable company: after surging 10% Thursday, it's now worth about $4.6 trillion-just below Nvidia's $4.9 trillion market cap. The Google parent posted a 22% jump in first-quarter revenue and 81% surge in net income. Heard writer Dan Gallagher notes it is closing the gap with rivals Microsoft and Amazon in the cloud business.

The AI build-out is producing winners and losers. Meta fell 8.6% after the Facebook owner said it would spend more on AI infrastructure. Microsoft slipped 3.9% on similar cost concerns. Nvidia was down 4.6%. Caterpillar shares jumped nearly 10%, lifting the Dow 1.6% higher. The construction-equipment maker raised its full-year outlook on strong demand from AI data centers.

In energy markets, oil prices jumped overnight before giving back gains. The initial move came after Axios reported that President Trump is set to be briefed on new military options for Iran amid a deadlock in peace talks. U.S. oil futures slipped about 1.7%.

First-quarter GDP came in weaker than expected as consumer spending slowed. The first quarter saw a strong increase in business spending on categories tied closely to AI, like equipment and intellectual property products, underscoring just how much AI has become an engine for the nation's economy. The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge showed that higher energy prices from the war in Iran pushed up pricing pressures in March.

This analysis comes from the Journal's Heard on the Street team. Subscribe to their free daily afternoon newsletter here.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 30, 2026 16:28 ET (20:28 GMT)

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