The stock market closed higher on Thursday as new jobless claims data drove hope for rate cuts later this year.
Overall, S&P 500 grew 0.5% to 5,214, while NASDAQ rose 0.3% to 16,346.
Tweet of the Day
Housing inventory in Nashville, TN has skyrocketed.
Surging by an insane +385% over the last two years. Inventory is now at its highest level in 5 years.
Suggesting a sharp slowdown in the market. Fewer buyers, more sellers.
Nashville could be another market where prices drop… pic.twitter.com/rIDsCJ4dTQ
— Nick Gerli (@nickgerli1) April 29, 2024
Chart of the Day
Here is the ten-year chart of Microsoft (MSFT) as of April 30, 2024, when the stock was at $389.
In last quarter’s earnings call, Microsoft showed the transformative impact of its AI innovations, which is particularly evident in Azure’s 31% revenue growth. Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud platform that lets users manage cloud services such as storing data and transforming it. Utilization is leading to revenue.
Last quarter, the number of $100 million-plus Azure deals soared over 80% from a year ago. Overall, Microsoft reported 20% profit growth and 17% revenue growth.
MSFT is part of our Conservative Growth Portfolio, Growth Portfolio and Aggressive Growth Portfolio. This is a core AI holding and the stock has come down a bit this past quarter. It seems undervalued.
