Shares of Apple and Amazon.com eased in after-hours trading on Thursday, despite a sharp rise in U.S. technology-related stocks earlier in the day. Apple’s stock was down 4% after the bell, with CEO Tim Cook warning that estimated tariffs would add about $900 million in costs to the quarter ending in June if rates remained unchanged. Cook also outlined changes to the company’s supply chain to minimize the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Amazon.com shares were down 2.5% after the company reported first-quarter cloud revenue growth and forecast operating income below estimates. During the regular session, U.S. technology-related stocks, including those involved in artificial intelligence, rose sharply following stronger-than-expected results from Microsoft and Meta Platforms late in the previous session. The Nasdaq gained 1.5% on the day.
Microsoft shares ended 7.6% higher on Thursday after the company reported that AI’s contribution to Azure growth increased to 16 percentage points in its fiscal third quarter, up from 13 percentage points in the previous three months. Shares of Meta Platforms ended 4.2% higher, with its report signaling that AI-powered tools helped attract advertising dollars despite tariff-related economic uncertainty.
Other tech heavyweights also saw gains, with Nvidia rising 2.5% and Broadcom gaining 2.5%. Amazon ended the regular session up 3.1%, while Apple ended up 0.4% after a federal judge ruled that the iPhone maker had violated a U.S. court order to reform its App Store. The top U.S. technology and growth stocks, known as the ‘Magnificent Seven’, had struggled early in 2025 due to investor concerns about the economic fallout from Trump’s tariffs, but rebounded after Trump paused many of his heftiest tariffs on April 9.
