Four of the Magnificent Seven—Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft—reported quarterly earnings after the market closed yesterday. They all beat top- and bottom-line expectations, and three revealed higher capital expenditure plans for the year than anticipated. Here’s a roundup of takeaways from after the bell:

• Alphabet went to the head of the investor class after demonstrating what CEO Sundar Pichai called its strongest quarter to date for consumer AI services. It reported that profit jumped by 81%, driven by AI investments. Google Cloud brought in $20 billion last quarter, over an expected $18.4 billion, thanks to an uptick in adoption of tools like Gemini and AI infrastructure.
• Amazon also saw big gains in cloud computing, which rose 28% year over year and exceeded estimates. Advertising reached $17.24 billion, above the expected $16.87 billion, with most of that revenue coming from sponsored product listings on the Amazon marketplace.
• When analysts asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the accelerated spending on, he said he does not have “a very precise plan,” only “a sense of the shape of where things need to be.” Meta doesn’t sell cloud computing, unlike the other three. Meta also said that its youth safety court cases “may ultimately result in a material loss.”
• Microsoft cited the persistence of high-priced memory while announcing that its capital expenditures would likely hit $190 billion this year. The company announced 5 million new paid users for the Copilot AI tools since last quarter, bringing the total to 20 million, but investors worry there’s not enough demand for the Office add-on.

Following the reports, Alphabet stock rose 7% in after-hours trading, Amazon rose 4%, Meta fell ~6%, and Microsoft fell ~2%, largely because of how investors were feeling about their spending plans.

Zoom out: This month will likely be tech stocks’ best since April 2020, at the start of the Covid pandemic. The Nasdaq was up 14% for the month as of close-of-day yesterday.—HVL

SCOTUS curbs use of race in drawing election maps. In a 6–3 ruling yesterday, the Supreme Court limited states’ ability to use race as a consideration in making election maps to create districts that empower minority voters under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The decision struck down a Louisiana congressional map that created a majority-Black district, which the court’s majority opinion called an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.” The dissenting liberal justices said the decision left Section 2 of the law, which outlaws racial discrimination in voting, “all but a dead letter.” The ruling comes as both parties have been pushing redistricting efforts ahead of the midterm elections, although its impact may be felt more in the 2028 election due to mapping deadlines.

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square USA plummets in trading debut. Looks like social media fame didn’t translate into market popularity: The billionaire investor raised $5 billion in an IPO, but shares in his stock-picking fund, Pershing Square USA (ticker PSUS), opened 16% down, suggesting some institutional buyers were already trying to sell. In addition to the closed-end fund, Ackman also debuted trading in his hedge-fund management company, Pershing Square, under the ticker PS. The dual listing was intended to appeal to individual investors as Ackman tries to build his own Berkshire Hathaway-type empire.

The Iran war has cost $25 billion so far, Pentagon official says. That’s mostly covered munitions, Jay Hurst, the acting Pentagon chief financial officer, told Congress yesterday, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth chastised lawmakers for criticizing the conflict. President Trump told Axios yesterday that he was rejecting Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to the US naval blockade and postponing nuclear talks. Trump said he considers the blockade “somewhat more effective than the bombing.”—AR

First, Mo Salah announced he was leaving Liverpool after this season. Then, yesterday, another superstar said goodbye: Jerome Powell held his final press conference as Federal Reserve chair, though his next move won’t be to continue his career in MLS or Saudi Arabia (probably).

Instead, Powell will become the first Fed chair since 1948 to vacate the throne, but remain on the board as a governor. Powell did his best Jordan Belfort and said he’s not leaving until the federal investigation into him over the Fed building’s renovations is closed. The DOJ dropped its criminal probe, but recently referred the case to the Fed’s inspector general, and it could still be reopened at any time.

Warsh what happens: Yesterday morning, Kevin Warsh was finally approved as the next Fed chair by the Senate Banking Committee. It’s unclear if there’s enough time, however, for a full Senate confirmation before Powell’s chair term ends on May 15.

As expected, the Fed held interest rates steady at 3.5% to 3.75%, with Powell saying that inflation from the Iran war “hasn’t even peaked yet.” But the 12-member vote had four dissenters, which was the most since 1992 and a sign that rates could be cut at the next meeting in June when Warsh—who supports rate cuts—has the helm.—DL

Nothing says cultural immersion like ordering Uber Eats to the accommodation you booked through Uber while you’re Ubering there from the airport. This scenario became reality yesterday: Uber launched a hotel-booking feature for US users.

As part of the rideshare app’s latest effort to become an everything app:

• A new hotel tab lets you book Expedia accommodations on the Uber app, with Vrbo rentals coming later this year.
• Uber One subscribers can get discounts on bookings, including 10% back in Uber credits and up to 20% off some hotels.
• Regular users can apparently also get deals. A Washington Post travel reporter without Uber One said she booked a discounted Hilton room that was slightly cheaper than it would’ve been through Booking.com, Hotels.com, or the Hilton website.

Back scratch: Expedia said it’ll add Uber ride bookings to its app in June. This partnership was a long time coming—Uber’s current CEO previously led Expedia in the 2000s and 2010s, and Uber reportedly considered buying Expedia in 2024.

Other assistant-like offerings announced yesterday include: OpenAI-powered voice booking for rides, a room service-like feature for hotel-door deliveries, and, for Uber Black customers, the option to request that drivers have coffee or food waiting for them.—ML

As if there wasn’t already enough pressure from your parents, cancer researchers are now offering a good reason to get married. The Wall Street Journal reports that a recent study of 4 million US cancer cases published in the journal Cancer Research Communications found:

• Cancer rates were ~68% higher for men who had never married compared with those who had put a ring on it.
• For women who never tied the knot, the rates were ~83% higher.

It’s not that marriage prevents cancer—no matter what your pushiest relatives say—but, as one of the study’s coauthors explained to the WSJ, married people often have more economic stability and strong support systems. Plus, the researcher noted many married people tend to smoke and drink less and are less exposed to STIs, all of which can be risk factors, and they get more preventive care.—AR