This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Alphabet soars on cloud growth
Alphabet shares rose around 6% in extended trading after the company reported better-than-expected revenue and profit. Second-quarter revenue rose 7% year over year to $74.6 billion, boosted by a 28% jump in revenue in Google's cloud unit. Ad revenue increased 3.3% to $58.14 billion, dispelling fears of lowered ad spending in a slowing economy.
Soft guidance from Microsoft
Investors were disappointed by Microsoft's revenue guidance for its upcoming fiscal quarter, pushing shares down 7% in extended trading. Still, the company beat estimates for both revenue and profit in its fiscal fourth quarter, though revenue growth in Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform, slowed. But CEO Satya Nadella is confident that Microsoft will remain the leader in cloud-based artificial intelligence services.
Bracing for the Fed
U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday — with the Dow Jones Industrial Average registering its 12th consecutive positive session — as investors digested a slew of earnings reports. Asia-Pacific markets, however, largely fell Wednesday. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was one of the few indexes to rise, gaining 0.8% as the country reported a lower-than-expected inflation rate of 6% year over year in the second quarter.
Record bid for soccer star
Saudi Arabian soccer club Al-Hilal has reportedly tabled a record 300 million euro ($331.9 million) bid for Kylian Mbappé, the 24-year-old star of Paris Saint-Germain. Al-Hilal is one of the clubs owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. Saudi clubs have recently signed many soccer stars like Cristiano Ronaldo but sports analysts think it'll take much more than that for the kingdom to disrupt the world of soccer.
[PRO] Benefiting from a 'generational shift'
The heat waves plaguing most of the northern hemisphere in recent days suggest that the world needs to transition to renewable energy sources, fast. Goldman Sachs picks two Indian stocks that it says will benefit from this "generational shift" — and gives one of them an upside of more than 30%.
The bottom line
The first batch of Big Tech earnings, out after the bell, was pretty mixed.
Both Alphabet and Microsoft beat estimates for the top and bottom line. But Alphabet shares soared after the company posted double-digit growth in its cloud sector, while Microsoft fell after weaker-than-expected revenue forecast for the upcoming quarter.
Investors are paying more attention to forward guidance because they expect second-quarter earnings to be the "trough" and want to see improvements later in the year, explained Edward Jones strategist Angelo Kourkafas.
Major indexes rose in ordinary trading. The S&P 500 advanced 0.28%, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.61% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched its 12th day of wins with a 0.08% increase.
One non-tech highlight is General Electric, which rallied 6.27% to hit a 52-week high on the back of better-than-expected earnings. In fact, GE has performed better than most tech stocks this year. Its shares have risen 72.4%, compared with 45.5% for Microsoft and 37.8% for Alphabet, CNBC's Scott Schnipper and Michael Bloom noted.
Meanwhile, Visa also exceeded expectations on both earnings and revenue. Visa CEO Ryan McInerney commented that "consumer spending remained resilient." Indeed, consumer confidence, as measured by The Conference Board, touched its highest level since July 2021.
The good news: Taken together, they suggest the U.S. economy will continue to be supported by consumer spending. The bad: The Federal Reserve might want to raise interest rates more to suppress demand further. We won't have to wait long to find out. The Fed announces its decision — and more importantly, reveals its thinking — later today.
