Give me a boost, Nasdaq soars 2% as stocks boosted by positive inflation data, surge in Microsoft

U.S. stocks jumped on Thursday in early trading, boosted by a post-earnings surge in Microsoft and a fairly benign print on the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.

The mood was clouded somewhat by ongoing worries over an intensifying conflict in the Middle East, along with hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision. A sharp drop in Meta Platforms also hurt overall sentiment around technology stocks.

At 09:47 ET (13:47 GMT), the benchmark S&P 500 index advanced 1% to 7,392.26 points, the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite soared 2.1% to 24,964.99 points, and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6% to 51,901.06 points.  

The indexes were coming off a sell-off in the previous session, which was driven by outsized losses in tech shares, especially chipmakers. Stocks in Asia whipsawed, with the chip-heavy KOSPI swinging wildly between gains and losses, and European shares inched up modestly.