Microsoft eyes largest single-day gain in stock market history

Microsoft ↗ 16.49% is on track to record the largest single-day increase in market value for any stock in history, with shares soaring as much as 17% on Thursday and adding roughly $490 billion to its market capitalization, according to Bloomberg.bloomberg

The surge, the stock's biggest intraday gain since October 2008, would eclipse the previous record set by Nvidia ↗ 2.35%, which added $440 billion in a single session following President Donald Trump's announcement of a 90-day tariff pause last year.moneycontrol+1

Azure Breaks $100 Billion

The rally followed Microsoft's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report on Tuesday evening, which showed Azure cloud revenue surging 43%, the fastest growth rate since early 2022. Azure's annual revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time, CEO Satya Nadella said, while total revenue reached $90 billion, an 18% year-over-year increase. Microsoft Cloud revenue hit $59.3 billion for the quarter, growing 27%.news.microsoft+3

Microsoft also reported that Microsoft 365 Copilot paid seats exceeded 30 million, and the company said its capital spending plans for fiscal 2026 remain unchanged.moneycontrol+2

A Comeback After a Bruising Year

The record session marks a reversal for a stock that had been among the worst performers in the "Magnificent Seven" group of megacap tech companies this year. Microsoft shares had fallen roughly 19% in 2026 before Thursday's jump, weighed down by concerns over heavy AI-related capital expenditure and slowing growth earlier in the year.reuters+1

The nearly $500 billion addition is larger than the market capitalization of roughly 96% of S&P 500 stocks and exceeds the total stock market values of countries including South Africa, Turkey, Finland, and Vietnam, according to Bloomberg data.moneycontrol

Earnings Details

The quarter included several one-time items that boosted results: a $3.2 billion gain from Microsoft's Anthropic investment and a net gain from its OpenAI stake, which collectively added approximately $0.27 to earnings per share beyond prior guidance. The Intelligent Cloud segment, which houses Azure, posted revenue of $39.3 billion, up 32%.finance.yahoo+1

Options markets had priced in a roughly $190 billion market value swing heading into the results, according to Reuters — less than half of what actually materialized.reuters