U.S. stocks were rising after strong earnings from Meta lifts tech

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were rising after stronger-than-expected earnings from Meta Platforms lifted tech stocks.

At 11:34 ET (15:34 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 247 points or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 was up 1.1% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 1.7%.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares jumped 14% after the tech giant provided a better-than-expected forecast for current quarter earnings. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said artificial intelligence technology was improving traffic to its social media platforms and helping to boost advertising revenue.

Drug maker Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) shares also rose 1.8% after raising its full-year earnings forecast, and Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE:MRK) beat expectations for the first quarter. Shares of Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) rose 8%, boosted by theme park and broadband results.

In economic data, the first quarter gross domestic product rose 1.1% annualized, slower than the 2% expected by analysts. And jobless claims fell to 230,000 last week. Lower than the 248,000 expected.

Despite the slowdown, futures traders are still expecting the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by another quarter of a percentage point when it meets next week.

Later today, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) will report after the market closes as analysts await word on its cloud computing business.

Oil was rising. Crude Oil WTI Futures were up 0.5% to $74.61 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures were up 0.3% to $77.92 a barrel. Gold Futures were down 0.1% to $1,993.