Microsoft's Market Cap Surges by $490 Billion in a Single Day, Potentially Setting a Global Record for Largest One-Day Gain

Microsoft is poised to set the record for the largest single-day increase in market capitalization in the history of global stock markets.

Microsoft surged 17% at one point on Thursday, adding approximately $490 billion to its market cap as of 12:55 p.m. New York time. If this gain persists until the market close, Microsoft will exceed the previous single-day market cap growth record set by NVIDIA.

NVIDIA's previous record was established last year after U.S. President Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariff measures, resulting in a market cap increase of approximately $440 billion on that day. If Microsoft's gains today extend to the close, it will become the largest single-day market cap increase ever recorded.

Thursday's sharp rise in Microsoft's stock marks its largest intraday gain since October 2008. This follows the company's earnings report, which showed that its cloud computing business, Azure, saw a 43% year-over-year revenue increase in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, marking the highest growth rate since early 2022. Meanwhile, capital expenditure plans came in below expectations.

Microsoft's nearly $500 billion increase in market capitalization exceeds the total market value of approximately 96% of the constituents in the S&P 500 Index. In other words, the market value added by Microsoft in a single day surpasses the overall valuation of the vast majority of U.S. listed companies.

This incremental gain even exceeds the combined total market capitalization of the 44 smallest companies in the S&P 500 Index, including Domino's Pizza, Clorox, and Hasbro.

The scale of Microsoft's single-day market cap addition also surpasses the total size of several global stock markets. The entire market capitalizations of countries such as South Africa, Turkey, Finland, and Vietnam are all lower than the market value Microsoft is projected to add in a single day on Thursday.