<span>STORY: Stocks ended mixed on Thursday, with the Dow up slightly, the S&P 500 down slightly, and the Nasdaq down 7/1%.</span><span>Investors were spooked by the latest earnings reports, worrying whether heavy spending on artificial intelligence will pay off for the mega-tech companies.</span><span>Microsoft’s stock price plummeted 10% as the software giant’s cloud revenues were unimpressive, fueling concerns that its heavy spending on OpenAI partnerships wasn’t paying off fast enough.</span><span>But Eric Deaton, president and managing director of Wealth Alliance, remains a fan.</span><span>“I’m not scared of Microsoft. I’m really surprised the stock price drop has been this deep because the numbers have been great. Microsoft continues to deliver, and I actually think OpenAI will deliver.”</span><span>Other software stocks also fell, with SAP’s U.S.-listed shares falling 15% after the company’s cloud revenue forecasts missed market expectations.</span><span>ServiceNow stock fell 10% as its earnings report turned even darker.</span><span>Friday could be a good day for the tech industry.</span><span>After the market closed on Thursday, Apple’s stock rose in after-hours trading as the company’s quarterly sales exceeded Wall Street expectations, helped by strong demand for iPhones and a sharp recovery in China.</span><span>And CEO Tim Cook told Reuters that demand for Apple’s latest devices has been “tremendous.”</span>
