Sector Update: Tech Stocks Sharply Higher Late Afternoon
Tech stocks were sharply higher late Thursday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) rising 5.6% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) climbing up 7.3%.The Philadelphia Semiconductor index popped 8.3%.In corporate news, Microsoft (MSFT) shares jumped past 16% after the company reported higher-than-expected fiscal Q4 results in the previous day.ASE Technology (ASX) shares climbed 10% after the company's Q2 earnings and revenue exceeded expectations.Meta Platforms (META) shares fell nearly 9% after it provided a soft Q3 revenue outlook following an unexpected year-over-year decline in quarterly earnings. Meta also raised the lower end of its capital expenditure guidance.A consortium of banks led by Morgan Stanley (MS) is in talks to lend $15 billion to a data-center developer to build a campus and power plant for Anthropic in Texas, The Wall Street Journal reported. Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google would provide financial guarantees and chips for the project. Alphabet shares were down 0.7%.