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Japan’s economy slows, missing growth forecasts

Japan's Economy Slows, Missing Growth Forecasts: A Deeper Dive into the Consequences Jean's economy has been dealt a significant blow as the latest data reveals a sluggish growth rate of 0.3 percent in the second quarter, falling short of initial forecasts. The underwhelming performance can be attributed to a decline in consumption and capital spending, posing significant concerns for the country's economic trajectory. As the world's third-largest economy, Japan's slowdown is likely to have far-reaching implications for the global market. Key Highlights: Sluggish GDP growth: Japan's GDP rose by a mere 0.3 percent in the second quarter, missing initial forecasts and sparking concerns about the country's economic momentum. Decline in consumption: Weakened consumer spending, which accounts for roughly 60 percent of Japan's economy, has been a major contributor to the slowdown. Capital spending sag: A decline in capital expenditure has also hin...

Following strong performance, Microsoft is valued at $4 trillion.

Following a stellar earnings report that demonstrated its enormous bets on AI are paying off, Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, became the second publicly traded company after Nvidia (NVDA.O) to surpass the $4 trillion milestone in stock market value on Thursday.

The market value of the four major AI companies increased by more than half a trillion dollars as a result of strong results from Microsoft and Meta Platforms (META.O), which opened a new tab late on Thursday and fueled gains in Amazon (AMZN.O). Additionally, the chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA.O) reached a record high.
According to LSEG data, the major AI players on Wall Street, including Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet (GOOGL.O), open a new tab, and Meta Platforms, now hold a quarter of the S&P 500.
In order to meet the growing demand for AI, Microsoft projected a record $30 billion in capital expenditures for the first quarter of the current fiscal year. It claimed that its Copilot AI tools had more than 100 million monthly active users and that sales in its Azure cloud computing division were booming.

Following an 8% increase, Microsoft's shares ended the day up 4.5%.

Gerrit Smit, lead portfolio manager at Stonehage Fleming Global Best Ideas Equity Fund, stated, "Despite the significant AI capital expenditures, it is in the process of becoming more of a cloud infrastructure business and a leader in enterprise AI, doing so very profitably and cash generatively."
As artificial intelligence boosted its core advertising business, Meta Platforms also stepped up its AI aspirations, predicting quarterly revenue that exceeded Wall Street projections.
In 2019, Microsoft, a company based in Redmond, Washington, first achieved a $1 trillion stock market value.
Its rise to $3 trillion was more measured than that of AI bellwether Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab, and Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab. Nvidia tripled its value in approximately a year and reached the $4 trillion milestone on July 9.

At its last valuation, Apple was worth $3.12 trillion.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have recently reached all-time highs as a result of recent progress in trade negotiations between the US and its trading partners ahead of President Donald Trump's August 1 tariff deadline.
Microsoft's multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI is turning out to be a game-changer, enabling its Office Suite and Azure products with state-of-the-art AI and driving the stock to more than double its value since ChatGPT's late-2022 launch.
With its largest-ever capital expenditure forecast for a single quarter, it is on course to surpass its competitors in spending over the coming year.
Days after Alphabet did the same, Meta increased the lower end of its yearly capital expenditure by $2 billion, indicating that Silicon Valley's competition to control AI technology is intensifying.
After the bell, cloud computing giant Amazon.com (AMZN.O) opened a new tab that increased 2% ahead of its quarterly report.
Nvidia, a supplier of AI chips, saw a 0.8% increase in market capitalization, reaching a record $4.4 trillion.


SOURCES: NEWS AGENCIES

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