HONG KONG, China – Asian markets saw a surge in trading after tech giants Meta and Amazon reported stronger-than-expected financial results, causing their share prices to soar.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose around 2 percent in morning trading, while Japan’s Nikkei Index climbed 1 percent. India’s NSE NIFTY 50 Index also rose more than 1.5 percent, signaling a positive trend across the region.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, exceeded analyst forecasts with a reported revenue of $40.1bn and a profit of $14bn for the fourth quarter of last year. This unexpected success caused Meta’s stock price to jump more than 14 percent in after-hours trading.
Meanwhile, Amazon reported sales of $170bn, surpassing expectations and leading to a 9 percent increase in their share price. Additionally, Amazon’s AWS cloud business posted strong results with revenue reaching $24.2bn for the last quarter.
Both companies have been aggressively cutting costs, leading to a combined layoff of about 48,000 employees since 2022. Despite this, their financial performance has significantly boosted US markets, with the S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite Index, and Dow Jones Industrial Average all closing positively.
The impressive fourth-quarter results from Meta and Amazon come at a time of increased scrutiny from US regulators over online safety concerns and potential antitrust violations. Despite this, both companies have managed to achieve a strong showing, adding a bright spot to an otherwise challenging start to 2024 for the tech industry.
However, not all tech giants fared as well, as Google’s parent company Alphabet reported fourth-quarter financial results that fell short of analysts’ expectations, causing shares to drop by more than 6 percent. The contrasting performances of these tech companies demonstrate the ever-changing nature of the industry and the challenges they face in meeting market demands and regulatory scrutiny.