U.S. equities rose the most since January and Treasuries retreated Thursday after solid earnings from technology companies blotted out the impact of a report showing slowing economic growth and higher-than-forecast inflation.

The S&P 500 jumped 2.0 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 2.8 per cent as a surge in advertising revenue helped Meta Platforms Inc. beat analyst estimates for profit, pushing the company’s shares 10 per cent higher. Earlier in the week, Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. also delivered strong results.

“A lot of folks were (understandably) short or underweight big tech into earnings,” said Michael Purves, founder of Tallbacken Capital Advisors. “Perhaps a realization that big tech can drive a lot of earnings growth through simply driving efficiencies.”

Hasbro Inc. was the latest consumer company to top earnings estimates after the likes of Coca-Cola Co. and Procter & Gamble Co. That boosted confidence corporate America is coping relatively well with price pressures and policy tightening. Hasbro shares jumped 15 per cent.

Treasuries fell, with the policy-sensitive two-year yield trading at 4.08 per cent, as the unexpectedly high inflation data could prompt the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer. The U.S. central bank is expected to raise rates by a quarter percentage point at its meeting next week.

“We are seeing heavier reactions in tech as firms are beginning to bear the fruit of earlier cost efficiencies,” Lewis Grant, senior portfolio manager for global equities at Federated Hermes, wrote in a note to clients. “Investor sentiment remains every bit as fragile as the global economy and earnings season provides much needed visibility on the general health of firms.”

Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board, said the latest batch of economic data — including a slowdown in U.S. jobless claims — showed the kind of cognitive dissonance investors have been grappling with as “typically when you have recessions, the labor market collapses with GDP, and we’re not seeing that.”

“We’re probably going to dip into a recession, maybe starting right now in the second quarter, but we really need to see data,” she said. “Our leading indicators index suggests that it’s starting to happen now, and consumers and CEOs have been anticipating recession for some time.”

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was little changed after earlier fluctuations. Sanofi’s profit topped estimates while Deutsche Bank AG dropped after trading revenue disappointed.  

Elsewhere, oil fluctuated after a Wednesday fall. The dollar was little changed. And Bitcoin resumed an advance.

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 2 per cent as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.8 per cent
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6 per cent
• The MSCI World index fell 0.3 per cent

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
• The euro fell 0.2 per cent to US$1.1024
• The British pound rose 0.2 per cent to US$1.2491
• The Japanese yen fell 0.2 per cent to 133.90 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 4.4 per cent to US$29,661.75
• Ether rose 3 per cent to US$1,923.57

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 3.52 per cent
• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 2.46 per cent
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 3.79 per cent

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7 per cent to US$74.85 a barrel
• Gold futures were little changed