James Gruber

Of those, only Alphabet shares and Amazon were in positive territory.

Alphabet shares jumped 10% after reporting a record quarter for its cloud unit.

Amazon advanced 0.8%, while Meta and Microsoft slid almost 9% and 4%, respectively, on concerns over artificial intelligence-related expenditures.

Eli Lilly gained more than 10% after the drugmaker raised its annual profit forecast on sustained weight loss drug demand.

Meanwhile, Caterpillar shares rose almost 10% too, touching a record high following the company's reported rise in first quarter profit due to strong demand for its power generation and construction equipment.

In US economic data, figures show the US economy grew by 2.0% in the first three months of 2026, while initial jobless claims dipped to their lowest since 1969, and soaring energy prices kept year-on-year inflation above 3%, thwarting hopes of near-term rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

U.S.

government bond yields fell as oil prices dropped, reducing inflation concerns.

The U.S.

10-year Treasury yield was 3 points lower to 4.39%, while the U.S.

2-year Treasury yield was down 5 points to 3.88%.

Gil, if you bought 10-year US bonds near the peak in 2020, on an after-inflation basis, you're still down 30% six years later.

And if you bought 30-year US bonds instead, you're down over 50%.

It goes to show that bonds near 0% yield never made much sense back then.

And if investors buy assets at such extreme price levels, it can be risky business, even in things perceived as safe like bonds.

ASX to fall as oil rips.

The US Federal Reserve keeps interest rates on hold while investors await big tech results.

Hello, good morning.

I'm James Gruber.

It's Thursday, the 30th of April, and this is the morning edition of the ComSec Market Update.