Amazon and Apple Earnings Prop Up Markets—Because Apparently Two Tech Giants Still Run This Circus

Another quarter, another display of Wall Street’s Pavlovian response to Big Tech earnings. Amazon and Apple just yanked the leash—and the S&P 500 obediently salivated.

The Numbers Game

Both companies smashed estimates (shocking, we know). AWS revenue up 12%, iPhone sales beating expectations despite everyone claiming they’d ’finally’ quit upgrading. Cue the algo-driven buying frenzy.

The Real Story

Beneath the headline pops: stagnant growth elsewhere. Retail traders chasing the momentum, institutional money playing musical chairs before the next Fed meeting. Classic ’bad news is good news’ logic—if Apple’s doing fine, maybe inflation really is ’transitory’ this time!

Meanwhile, crypto markets yawned. Bitcoin barely budged—because when you’re busy eating macro volatility for breakfast, two mega-caps padding their margins doesn’t exactly move the needle.

U.S. stocks are still climbing after a week of economic reports and Magnificent Seven quarterly earnings reports, which is good news for those worried about an impending recession.

The Nasdaq climbed the most on Thursday with a 1.52% gain. The S&P 500 added 0.63%, and the Dow Jones gained 0.21% as trading continued to improve across all stock indices. These indices were given a boost by promising earnings reports from Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL).

Amazon stock jumped 3.13% after the company issued its quarterly report, and the company showed significant growth in its advertising business, which increased by 19%. The company managed to beat estimates for both the top and bottom lines, however, its guidance for the current quarter was pulled back slightly with tempered expectations.

Apple managed to beat the estimates from Wall Street with its quarterly earnings report, and the company’s stock gained 0.39% on Thursday. In Friday’s premarket trading, however, the stock price fell 3.24%. The company is looking at massive tariff expenses around $900 million, and their Services division did not meet expectations.

The current week may end a little low for the stock market as earnings reports and economic reports are digested. Tariffs will continue to impact companies across the stock market, with many fearing higher tariffs in the NEAR future, after the 90-day pause on new tariffs is over.

Even if the stock market manages to climb back up to where it was at the beginning of the year before Trump’s tariffs took effect, it will likely shoot back down as soon as the tariff pause is done. The Chamber of Commerce is asking Trump for a reprieve from heavy tariffs, with their request aimed particularly to help small businesses which will suffer the most from the taxes.

This request notes that irreparable harm could happen to the U.S. economy if a reprieve is not granted, and it speaks of the fears of many businesses about how they will be impacted by Trump’s ongoing trade war with China and his plans to tax imports heavily until tariffs have evened out.