Techs jumped as US stock futures extended gains on Friday morning, after South Korean stocks roared back and Big Tech earnings revived optimism in the artificial intelligence trade. <\/p>\n
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F<\/a>) rose 0.5%, and those on the S&P 500 (ES=F<\/a>) moved up 0.3%. Contracts for the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 (NQ=F<\/a>) surged 1% after South Korea’s KOSPI (^KS11<\/a>) index jumped 14%<\/a> overnight, triggering trading halts. <\/p>\n Following Microsoft’s (MSFT<\/a>) historic 15% stock rally, shares of Amazon (AMZN<\/a>) and Apple (AAPL<\/a>) also swung after delivering earnings on Thursday. Amazon stock jumped 10% in premarket trade after its earnings beat expectations<\/a> and its chip business expanded, while Apple stock fell 7%, as its Services and China revenue came up short.<\/a> <\/p>\n The latest quarterly results from the “Magnificent Seven” companies showed that Big Tech continues to invest in AI, reassuring tech investors who had grown fearful of a slowdown in AI and higher interest rates. The four hyperscalers (Amazon, Microsoft, Meta (META<\/a>), and Alphabet) forecast spending $720 billion to $745 billion cumulatively on capital projects in 2026. <\/p>\n Also on the earnings front, a slew of oil companies, including ExxonMobil (XOM<\/a>) and Chevron (CVX<\/a>), reported windfalls in Q2, as the US-Iran war and the subsequent energy shock have kept oil prices elevated. However, scheduled maintenance costs ate into Exxon’s bottom line, leading earnings to miss expectations.<\/a> <\/p>\n Oil prices turned higher<\/a> as traffic as the Strait of Hormuz began to falter, after a reescalation in hostilities in recent days. US benchmark WTI crude futures (CL=F<\/a>) last traded at around $84 per barrel, and global benchmark Brent (BZ=F<\/a>) futures rose to nearly $88 per barrel. <\/p>\n