Microsoft hit an all-time high above $350 as the surge in tech stocks continues.
MSFT: Weekly Chart
MSFT soared to $360 and has the previous all-time high of $349.67 as the new resistance level. If the market sours and the stock closes below that level, it could set up for a larger pullback.
The latest announcement from Microsoft came at its annual partnership seminar. The company announced a new tie-up with Meta, where Microsoft will host the Llama 2 software on its Azure and Windows platforms.
Microsoft also announced a $30-per-month premium subscription for business customers of its 365 Windows applications.
Another partnership was with healthcare provider Teladoc, which said it would use the company’s GPT4 AI to organise patient records better. That deal in particular highlights use cases for AI.
With the latest breakout for MSFT, traders can look to the continuation for further gains on the long side. But there is risk involved, and if a negative market environment took prices lower, it would be beneficial to trade on the short side.
There was other news for Microsoft this week, as it extended the deadline for its $69 billion takeover of games firm Activision Blizzard. Microsoft, Activision, and the British competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), asked for a two-month extension to the case after the CMA said it would consider a modified deal.
That is better news than in the US, where a judge said that the deal would not threaten competition in the video game space. The FTC said it would appeal against that ruling, and the plans for Activision are still in doubt.
Earnings season has gotten underway for the second quarter, and Microsoft will report fourth-quarter fiscal 2023 results on July 25. Continued strength in the company’s cloud business is expected. Another bonus for the company has been the Teams meeting app, which will also see the integration of ChatGPT AI technology. That could continue to add momentum and take market share from Zoom Communications.
For its fiscal fourth quarter, Microsoft expects revenue in the Productivity and Business processes segment to improve by 10% to $17.9–$18.2 billion.
