US stock markets were mixed overnight with the Dow Jones falling 0.4% due to a lack of technology constituents and the Nasdaq jumping 0.7% in the session.
The positive move came after the Federal Reserve delivered another update suggesting the economy had ‘made progress’ but was not yet sufficiently strong to allow a tapering of the US$120 billion per month bond purchases.
Alphabet hits it out of the park
The highlight by far was Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), which is the holding company for Google, with its share price heading 3.2% higher.
Alphabet’s share price rise was driven by an incredibly strong result as profits nearly tripled for the quarter to US$18.53 billion from US$6.96 billion in 2020.
This came on the back of a 62% increase in quarterly revenue, moving above $60 billion for the first time.
A return to online activity saw Google ad revenue jump 69% with YouTube an unexpected growth driver, growing 84% in the quarter alone.
Similarly, cloud computing and support jumped 54% to US$4.63 billion in a series of stunning results that reiterate the power and quality of these big tech names.
Apple’s mic drop
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) delivered a ‘mic drop’ moment after reporting its strongest June quarter ever, with profits doubling to US$21.74 billion and revenue exceeding US$81 billion, both 10% ahead of forecasts.
As usual, iPhone revenue makes up around half the business, with sales jumping 36% on the back of a new 5G release in 2020.
Every other business sector including Mac computers, iPad and Services also grew at around a 10% clip. Despite beating expectations, Apple stock finished 1.2% lower.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks traded overnight.
- Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD) up 15.5%
- Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) up 7.6%
- Boeing (NYSE: BA) up 4.2%
- Mastercard (NYSE: MA) down 1.8%
- Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) down 2.9%
- Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) down 5.7%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is heading towards a positive open on Thursday. For a round-up of the latest ASX news, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.