Stocks Gain on Strong GDP, Meta to Raise $25B in Debt, More

news when you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Nathan Hager. Thursday morning

trading is underway on Wall Street. That is the sound of the opening bell. From

the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and at the open, stocks are kind of

mixed, but the S&P 500s on the rise up a half percent a gain of about 30 points

or more. The Dow Jones industrial average opens little change to the downside

with a drop of about 20 points. But the NASDAQ composite is firmly in the green

up seven tenths of one percent or about 170 points. There are a lot of cross

currents in the market this morning, but investors are focusing on the

positive. The first full read on the 2026 US economy is out. It looks like it's

holding up. Bloomberg's Michael McKee has first quarter GDP. This is the first

report for the first quarter up 2%. It was a half percent gain in the fourth

quarter of last year. The 2% comes in lower than the 2.3% that had been

expected. Bloomberg's Mike McKee says consumer spending rose more than

expected while the Fed's preferred gauge of inflation jumped the most since

2022. Gas prices are at a four-year high as well with the Iran war driving up

energy costs. And weekly jobless claims are down to their lowest level since

1969. Just 189,000 first time applications came in last week. Even with big

name companies like Nike and Meta platforms announcing layoffs. Speaking of

Meta platforms, Bloomberg News has learned the Facebook parents looking to

sell up to $25 billion in debt to pay for its AI ambitions. Meta raised its

full-year spending forecast to $145 billion in earnings that had investors

thinking the plan might not be there to back it up. Mandi Singh is global head of

tech research at Bloomberg Intelligence. Some of this capex increase is tied to

component pricing. I mean, some estimates are out there that, you know, almost

25 to 30 percent of the capex is going towards memory right now.

Mandi Singh with Bloomberg Intelligence at the open Meta platforms shares are

down eight and a half percent. We also got results from Google parent Alphabet.

It reported high demand for cloud and AI offerings. Alphabet shares are up

seven percent of the open. Amazon saw payoff in the cloud and from a Bloomberg

news report that one of its biggest investments and thropic is looking to

raise more money to put its valuation at $900 billion. Amazon shares are up

two percent. Microsoft is down three percent. It's earnings beat. But Microsoft

says it only expects moderate acceleration in the second half.

rhetoric is accelerating between the U.S. and Iran. The new Supreme leader

Mojtabahame Ne put out a statement today saying his country will defend its

nuclear and missile programs and foreigners have no place in the Gulf except the depths

of its waters. Axios is reporting that President Trump will get a briefing today on

potential new military options in Iran. Mark Champion covers the Middle East for Bloomberg

opinion. What we know is that we have a continuing blockade. And then, you know, what we don't know is

whether President Trump will also now, you know, restart the war. That would, in a sense,

be an acknowledgement that he doesn't think that the blockade is going to work fast enough

for him. So, you know, we'll see how that goes. You can hear my full conversation with Bloomberg

opinion columnist Mark Champion on the Bloomberg Daybreak U.S. edition podcast word of another

military option had crude oil trading at a four year high overnight. Right now, Brent crude

is moving lower. It's down 3.2 percent trading above $114 a barrel. West Texas intermediates

down about one and two thirds percent at $105. Gas prices in California are now above $6 a gallon

for the first time since October of 2023. The war is hitting Europe's economic outlook.

That's what we're hearing from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde this morning.

The economic outlook is highly uncertain and will depend on how long the war in the Middle East

lasts and how strongly it affects energy and other commodity markets as well as global supply

chains. Madam Lagarde spoke after the ECB voted to keep rates unchanged at 2 percent where they've

been since June of last year. She's hinting the central bank should consider a hike in June of

this year. Back in Washington, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's due for questioning in the

Senate today after he spent nearly six hours with the House Armed Services Committee yesterday

defending the war and the Pentagon's one and a half trillion dollar budget request.

Bloomberg governments may have she he has more. There's a pretty high estimated cost of

the Iran war and that will be difficult, especially with some of these more concerned members of

the Republican conference. Bloomberg governments may have she he reports the Pentagon put a 25

billion dollar price tag on the first two months of the war. Bloomberg economic says that's

probably an undershoot. President Trump is putting more pressure on the Walt Disney company

on his truth social platform asking quote, when is ABC fake news network firing seriously

unfunny Jimmy Kimmel and quote in the post he goes on to say it better be soon. Disney shares are

little changed to lower. Maine governor Susan Mills has dropped her bid to unseat Republican

Senator Susan Collins. In a statement this morning, the Democratic governor said she does not have

the financial resources to take on populous newcomer Graham Platner for the Democratic nomination.

Democrats see Maine as a must win for their bid to take over the Senate majority in November.

That's news when you want it with Bloomberg news now. I'm Nathan Hager. This is Bloomberg.