S&P futures were higher early Friday as Wall Street experienced a notable rebound, bolstered by positive earnings from Amazon that contributed to a sense of optimism. Nasdaq-100 futures experienced an increase of 1.2%. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 330 points, representing a 0.6% rise, whereas S&P 500 futures experienced a gain of 0.5%. Amazon surged 13% following the announcement of second-quarter revenue that exceeded expectations. The results, bolstered by the robust performance of its cloud-computing segment, reinforced investor confidence in expenditures related to artificial intelligence. Apple, in contrast, was more than 7% lower ahead of Friday’s opening bell. The firm’s fiscal third-quarter revenue exceeded expectations, bolstered by a 22% increase in iPhone sales; however, a decline in service revenue resulted in a decrease in its stock price.

Meta, which experienced a decline of nearly 8% during Thursday’s session, saw an increase of 1.7% in premarket trading. The moves followed a powerful rally during Thursday’s session led by Microsoft, which surged 16% after the software giant reported stronger-than-expected Azure cloud growth. The results sparked a broad advance across AI-linked chipmakers, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF climbing more than 8%. The recovery followed a challenging session on Wednesday, during which the Dow experienced a decline exceeding 1,100 points, marking its most significant one-day drop since April 2025. Selling accelerated late in the session after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, raising concerns that policymakers were lagging in the battle against inflation.

Those concerns reverberated throughout the Treasury market. The 30-year Treasury yield increased by 6 basis points on Wednesday, surpassing 5.2% and remaining close to its peak level since 2007. “Investors are recalibrating expectations for Fed rate cuts, reducing the excess liquidity that has fueled speculative, momentum-driven markets,” Richard Bernstein said. “Market leadership is expanding beyond the ‘Magnificent 7’ as investors increasingly reward improving fundamentals rather than hype-driven momentum.” Despite the week’s sharp fluctuations, the major averages continued to be positioned for a higher finish. The Dow was up approximately 0.5% for the week leading into Friday’s session, while the S&P 500 had increased by roughly 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead by about 0.6%.

In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi experienced a remarkable increase of over 15% on Friday, propelled by significant gains from major semiconductor players SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 surged more than 3%. The S&P/ASX 200 experienced an increase of 0.27%. The Hang Seng Index experienced a decline of 0.11%, whereas the CSI 300 saw an increase of 1.24%. European markets exhibited an upward trend on Friday, with the pan-continental Stoxx 600 increasing by 0.8% during morning trading. France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX both recorded gains of approximately 0.9%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 and the Italian FTSE MIB also experienced upward movement.