Tech Rallies on Palantir Earnings, Intel Surge

Technology stocks extended gains as Palantir Technologies ($PLTR) delivered stellar earnings results that lifted futures markets. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.8% while S&P 500 futures climbed, driven by renewed optimism in the artificial intelligence trade. Amazon ($AMZN) touched a $3 trillion market capitalization for the first time, joining a handful of Wall Street giants at the top as AI enthusiasm swept through technology stocks. Shares reached a record high of $279, taking yearly gains to 17.5%.

Intel ($INTC) announced better-than-expected revenue, with sales up 25.4% year on year to $16.13 billion. Next quarter's revenue guidance of $16.3 billion at the midpoint came in 7.8% above analyst expectations, while non-GAAP profit of $0.42 per share beat consensus estimates by 93.1%. Data center and AI strength offset broader market concerns amid supply constraints. Semiconductor stocks faced pressure from worries over increased competition from China, though AI demand remained robust. Taiwan Semiconductor ($TSM) reclaimed a $2 trillion market capitalization, trading at approximately 20 times forward earnings. Analysts expect AMD ($AMD) to deliver a clean quarter with forecasted revenue of $11.28 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $1.63 per share, with Citigroup seeing over 40% upside potential.

$AMZN posted its biggest rally since 2012 after AWS revenue surged to $42.2 billion, while Microsoft ($MSFT) reported that Copilot adoption doubled to 30 million users. An analyst warned that the Magnificent Seven now faces a higher burden of proof on AI monetization following these results. $PLTR delivered robust earnings with Wall Street expecting earnings per share of $0.35 on revenue of $1.8 billion. The company achieved a Rule of 40 score of 155%, a metric that adds year-over-year revenue growth rate to profit margin and is commonly applied to enterprise software and SaaS companies. CEO Alex Karp criticized AI frontier labs for what he described as Marxist overtones, arguing that enterprises should support technologies strengthening U.S. interests rather than benefiting adversaries.

Apple ($AAPL) posted third quarter revenue of $109.4 billion and net income of $29.8 billion, alongside a $0.27 per share dividend declaration. The shares fell 10.78% over the past week and 1.78% in the last session, despite a 90-day return of 5.53% and one-year total shareholder return of 50.12%. Analysis suggested the stock could be 20% overvalued following the earnings and dividend announcement. OpenAI responded to an Apple lawsuit with sharp criticism, calling the legal action careless, aggressive, and oddly personal, claiming Apple is using selective and false information hours after Apple sought an injunction. Alphabet ($GOOGL) and Meta Platforms ($META) received substantial stock purchases from President Trump's brokerage accounts this year. Google has assembled one of the largest infrastructure financing programs in history to sell more than $150 billion of AI chips destined for Anthropic, part of a $200 billion Wall Street finance machine.

$AMD stock jumped overnight ahead of its Q2 print, with Benchmark expecting a clean, essentially in-line quarter. The partnership between $PLTR and Mercury Systems to automate U.S. defense manufacturing signals continued expansion in government contracts. Streaming faced renewed competition as blockbuster movies filled theaters, with Netflix ($NFLX) stock declining while theater chains gained. Market participants are watching whether cloud infrastructure spending can sustain momentum as AI workloads scale and enterprises face increasing scrutiny over return on AI investments.