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Thursday, April 30, 2026
What’s happening: Shares of Alphabet gained in after-hours trading on Wednesday, following the release of the company’s first-quarter results.
What happened: Google’s parent company posted better-than-expected sales and earnings for the quarter.
Alphabet also announced plans to raise spending to $190 billion amid growing AI demand.
How were the results: The Mountain View, California-based company reported double-digit sales growth for the latest quarter.
Why it matters: Alphabet’s operating income grew 30%, while operating margins expanded to 36.1%.
The Google Cloud division was the main outperformer during the quarter. Google Cloud revenues jumped 63% year-over-year to $20 billion, topping market estimates of 50% and recording the best growth rate since the company started publishing the segment’s sales figures in 2020.
These upbeat results signalled that AI had emerged as a strong growth driver for Alphabet, a company that had trailed other tech majors for several years. The results reassured investors that Google’s AI spending is now beginning to show results.
“This was our strongest quarter ever for our consumer AI plans, driven by the Gemini App. Overall the number of paid subscriptions has now reached 350 million, with YouTube and Google One being the key drivers,” CEO Sundar Pichai said.
Alphabet increased its capex forecast to $180-$190 billion for this year, up $5 billion from the previous outlook. The company also said it expects to increase its spending significantly in 2027 as well.
The company also announced a 5% increase in its quarterly dividend to 22 cents per share.
How shares responded: Alphabet’s shares surged 7.2% to $375.29 in extended trading hours on Wednesday following the release of quarterly results. The stock has added around 28% over the past month.
What to watch: Investors will keep an eye on the company’s capex spending and the adoption of its AI solutions.
Context: The EUR/USD forex pair traded lower this morning as investors digested the latest economic data.
Details: Data released on Wednesday showed that the Eurozone’s industrial confidence indicator declined to -7.7 in April from -7.0 in the previous month. The figure also came in below market estimates of -7.2, recording the weakest reading of the year.
The index measuring services confidence also dipped to 0.9 points in April from 4.1 in the previous month.
The Eurozone’s economic sentiment indicator declined for the third straight month to 93.0 in April, recording its weakest reading since November 2020 and missing market estimates of 95.2. The decline signalled ongoing concerns around the impact of the Middle East conflict on the region’s economic outlook. The Eurozone’s consumer confidence fell to -20.6 in April, hitting the weakest level since December 2022.
Germany’s consumer price inflation accelerated to 2.9% year-over-year in April from 2.7% in the previous month. However, the figure was better than market estimates of 3%.
Meanwhile, investors remained concerned about the situation in the Middle East, after US President Donald Trump announced plans to maintain the naval blockade until Iran agrees to a nuclear agreement.
Strength in the US dollar also weighed on the EUR/USD forex pair this morning. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, edged higher to 98.99.
The EUR/USD pair fell to 1.1672 this morning.
What to watch: Investors will continue monitoring developments related to the US-Iran war.
Data on the Eurozone’s GDP growth rate (1300 UAE Time), inflation rate (1300 UAE Time) and unemployment rate (1300 UAE Time) will be released today. The region’s economy, which expanded by 1.2% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, is expected to grow by 0.9% in the first quarter. The Eurozone’s annual inflation rate, which came in at 2.6% in March, is expected to accelerate to 2.9% in April. Analysts expect the unemployment rate to remain at 6.2% in March.
The European Central Bank is scheduled to announce its interest rate decision (1615 UAE Time) today, with investors expecting the central bank to keep rates unchanged.
Other Markets: US trading indices closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones index and S&P 500 down by 0.57% and 0.04%, respectively, and the Nasdaq 100 up by 0.58%.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump held a 90-minute phone call on Wednesday, discussing the ongoing Middle East conflict and the war in Ukraine. The news sent the USD/RUB pair higher in forex trading this morning.
Australia’s private sector credit rose by 0.7% in March following 0.6% growth in the previous month, which lent support to the AUD/USD forex pair.
China’s NBS composite PMI output index fell to 50.1 in April from 50.5 in the previous month, which sent the USD/CNY pair higher in forex trading this morning.
Philippines’ trade deficit came in unchanged at $4.5 billion in March versus the year-ago period. Exports jumping 20.4% year-over-year to a record $8.2 billion exerted pressure on the USD/PHP forex pair.
New Zealand’s ANZ business outlook index fell to -10.6 in April from 32.5 in March. However, the NZD/USD pair rose slightly in forex trading this morning.
Germany’s GDP growth rate (1200 UAE Time), Italy’s GDP growth rate (1200 UAE Time), unemployment rate (1230 UAE Time), inflation rate (1300 UAE Time), Spain’s current account (1200 UAE Time), Turkey’s tourist arrivals (1200 UAE Time), South Africa’s PPI (1330 UAE Time) and balance of trade (1600 UAE Time), Bank of England’s interest rate decision (1500 UAE Time), Brazil’s gross debt to GDP (1530 UAE Time) and nominal budget balance (1530 UAE Time), Turkey’s foreign exchange reserves (1530 UAE Time), Brazil’s unemployment rate (1600 UAE Time), Mexico’s GDP growth rate (1600 UAE Time), Canada’s GDP growth rate (1630 UAE Time) and average weekly earnings (1630 UAE Time) as well as US GDP growth rate (1630 UAE Time), personal income (1630 UAE Time), personal spending (1630 UAE Time), initial jobless claims (1630 UAE Time), PCE price index (1630 UAE Time), Chicago PMI (1745 UAE Time) and EIA natural gas stocks change (1830 UAE Time).
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