A huge global rally in stocks is underway today after Palantir delivered yet another blockbuster earnings call that blew through analysts’ expectations yesterday, and—separately—a poll of manufacturers showed they were surprisingly optimistic about the future.Palantir stock was up 10.86% in overnight trading, after closing 0.81% yesterday.Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.41% this morning. Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon also rose yesterday and remained buoyant in overnight trading. S&P 500 futures were up 0.14% this morning after the index closed up 0.54% yesterday.
Those gains came after markets in Asia closed strongly up today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 3.92%; the South Korea KOSPI was up 6.84%.
Two factors were driving markets back toward record highs this morning:
The Palantir results show that spending on AI is set to continue for the foreseeable future—putting fears that AI is a bubble on the back burner.
And the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index yesterday showed a sharp and unexpected increase in optimism among factory purchasing executives, boosting non-tech stocks.
