Microsoft and Meta Platforms lead strong rally on Wall Street

Microsoft and Meta Platforms are leading a rally on Wall Street on Thursday after reporting profits for the start of the year that were even bigger than analysts expected.

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The S&P 500 was 1.5% higher in midday trading and heading for an eighth straight gain, which would be its longest winning streak since August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 381 points, or 0.9%, as of 11:15am, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.6% higher.

Microsoft jumped 9.5% after the software giant said strength in its cloud computing and artificial intelligence businesses drove its overall revenue up 13% from a year earlier.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, also topped analysts' targets for revenue and profit in the latest quarter. It said Al tools helped boost its advertising revenue, and its stock climbed 6%.

The two are some of the most influential stocks within the S&P 500 and other indexes because of their massive sizes, but they weren't alone. CVS Health, Carrier Global and a bevy of other companies also joined the stream of better-than-expected profit reports that have helped steady Wall Street over the last week. The S&P 500 is back to within 8% of its record set earlier this year, after briefly dropping nearly 20% below the mark.