Finance

Alphabet shares jumped 10% after the company reported quarterly profits that nearly doubled analyst expectations, providing a significant boost to the broader market. In contrast, Meta and Microsoft experienced share price pressure as investors reacted to their plans for significantly higher capital expenditures focused on artificial intelligence. Despite these concerns, tech remains a top-performing sector as manufacturing capacity struggles to keep pace with semiconductor demand.

Preliminary data for the first quarter of 2026 shows the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 2%, an improvement over the 0.5% growth seen in late 2025. However, the Core PCE index rose to an annual rate of 3.2%, representing a multi-year high for this critical inflation measure monitored by the Federal Reserve. Analysts noted that steady consumer spending and business investment in software have cushioned the impact of higher fuel prices resulting from regional conflicts.

Institutional adoption of digital assets continues to mature in 2026, with major banks now offering spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs to a wider range of clients. Bitcoin has remained within a high-volatility range between $75,000 and $150,000, while its correlation with global equities has increased to approximately 0.50 this year. Emerging trends also indicate a shift toward tokenized real-world assets as financial institutions seek more efficient infrastructure for traditional instruments.