Stocks gained for a second consecutive week, buoyed by the quarterly earnings releases from the biggest technology companies. The S&P 500 returned 3.8% and the technology focused Nasdaq gained 5.0%, rounding out its best month (+12.3%) since April 2020.
Shares in Alphabet (+6.7%) and Microsoft (7.7%) rose on Wednesday, despite missing analysts’ forecasts. Google’s parent, Alphabet, reported a 13% year-on-year increase in revenue to $69.7 billion during the second quarter, the slowest rate in two years. Ad revenue from YouTube rose just 5% to $7.4 billion, compared to an 84% increase in the same period a year ago, perhaps reflecting tougher competition from rivals such as TikTok.
TEAM plc (LON:TEAM) is building a new wealth, asset management and complementary financial services group. With a focus on the UK, Crown Dependencies and International Finance Centres, the strategy is to build local businesses of scale around TEAM’s core skill of providing investment management services.