Amid a bearish sentiment, Nasdaq achieves its largest increase since November

On Thursday, Bill Gross, co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), tweeted advising investors to stick to value stocks and avoid tech stocks:

"Stick to value stocks, temporarily avoid tech stocks."

However, just one day later, tech stocks saw a strong rebound. Thanks to strong earnings reported by Microsoft and Google's parent company Alphabet, both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 saw their strongest weekly performance since November last year.

For investors trying to navigate short-term market fluctuations, understanding complex and confusing macroeconomic data poses a significant challenge. Last Thursday's report showed that despite slowing growth, indicators for consumption and investment remained strong. The strong personal spending data released just a day later was welcomed by market optimists on one hand, but also raised concerns about potential inflationary pressures.

Despite the uncertainties at the macro level, fund managers continued to drive the S&P 500 index up by over 2.5% this week, supporting companies expected to achieve profit growth in the coming years. On Friday, Gross told the media:

"Tech and growth stocks were previously negatively impacted by high yields, but the situation has now changed."

After a 5.4% decline last week, the Nasdaq 100 index rebounded by 4% this week, with 7 of the strongest stocks rising by 3.3% in a single day on Friday.

Mag 7 Tech Earnings Season: Tesla, Alphabet, Microsoft Strong, Meta Faces Challenges

This week, four companies in the Mag 7 tech stocks released their earnings reports, with Tesla, Alphabet, and Microsoft performing strongly, while social media giant Meta's earnings report was overlooked by the market.

1. Tesla Shows Strength

After Tesla's earnings report was released, its stock price surged by 18% in two days, with the market eagerly anticipating its leading position in autonomous driving cars and robotics technology.

Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (TSLL) skyrocketed by 36% in two days, with assets under management reaching nearly $850 million.

At the same time, the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY) rose by nearly 4% this week, with its stake in Tesla reaching 13%, surpassing the S&P 500 ETF Trust Fund (SPY) by 2.8%, highlighting its influence.

2. Disappointment from Meta

On Thursday, Meta, part of the Mag 7 tech stocks, released its earnings report. While revenue and profits exceeded analysts' expectations, its outlook for the next quarter disappointed the market, leading to a nearly 11% drop in its stock priceIn addition, the company announced an increase in investment in the field of artificial intelligence, triggering concerns among some investors about its profit margin. As a result, the GraniteShares 2x Long META Daily ETF (FBL) fell by 22%. The Communication Services SPDR Fund (XLC) performed poorly this week, with its stake in Meta accounting for 22%, showing almost no growth compared to the overall market.

(3) Google's Market Value Exceeds $2 Trillion

Later this week, search giant Google's parent company Alphabet also released better-than-expected financial reports, with revenue and earnings surpassing analysts' expectations, easing concerns in the market about its core business potentially being affected by competition from chatbots like ChatGPT.

It is worth mentioning that Alphabet also announced its first dividend payout and stated that it will balance growth and investments in artificial intelligence while expanding profit margins.

This news was warmly welcomed by investors, with Alphabet's stock price rising by 12% at midday on Friday, and the T-Rex 2x Long Alphabet Daily Target ETF (GOOX) surging by 24%.

Alphabet's rise also boosted XLC, with approximately one-fourth of the ETF's portfolio allocated to the stock. On Friday, the ETF rose by 2.3%, recovering some of the losses from the previous day influenced by Meta.

(4) Microsoft Benefits from AI

Finally, Microsoft, the largest company in the Mag 7, also supported the market on Friday. The company's first-quarter revenue and profit exceeded analysts' expectations, especially with the market's enthusiastic response to the news that artificial intelligence has already had a substantial impact on Microsoft's business.

Microsoft's key Azure cloud business saw sales growth accelerate from 28% in the previous quarter to 31% in this quarter, with 7 percentage points of growth attributed to AI services.

At midday on Friday, Microsoft's stock price rose by 3%, helping the Technology Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) to rise by 1.5%.