Microsoft up 36% this quarter and Meta 31%, while the Nasdaq-100 fund is flat and Tesla is down 16%
With one trading day left in the third quarter, two stocks have added roughly $1.45 trillion of market value between them. The index that holds them is where it started in July, because the rest of Big Tech split the other way.
Microsoft closed Tuesday at $508.96, up 36.4% from its June 30 close of $373.02, with one session left in the quarter, according to Nasdaq's daily price data. MarketWatch reported that puts the stock on track for its biggest quarterly gain in 28 years. Meta Platforms is close behind, up 31.2%.
The obvious read is a Big Tech rally. The quarter's numbers say otherwise.
The scorecard
Third-quarter change from the June 30 close to Tuesday's close, from Nasdaq data:
| Stock or fund | June 30 close | Sept 29 close | Quarter to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | $373.02 | $508.96 | +36.4% |
| Meta Platforms | $563.29 | $738.79 | +31.2% |
| Apple | $289.36 | $329.40 | +13.8% |
| Nvidia | $200.09 | $227.21 | +13.6% |
| Amazon | $238.34 | $246.67 | +3.5% |
| Alphabet (Class A) | $357.37 | $340.92 | -4.6% |
| Broadcom | $377.75 | $355.10 | -6.0% |
| Tesla | $420.60 | $352.84 | -16.1% |
| Invesco QQQ (Nasdaq-100) | $736.40 | $737.93 | +0.2% |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF | $746.77 | $764.30 | +2.3% |
The Nasdaq-100 tracker is essentially unchanged on the quarter, and the S&P 500 fund is up 2.3%. Two of the largest stocks in both indexes rose by a third, and it barely moved the total. Alphabet, Broadcom and Tesla fell, and enough of the rest of the index lagged to leave the fund flat while long-term Treasury yields climbed: the 10-year yield rose from 4.44% on June 30 to 5.26% on Tuesday, per Treasury data.
What that is worth in dollars
Using Nasdaq's current market values, Microsoft is worth about $3.78 trillion and Meta about $1.88 trillion. Working back through the quarter's gains, that is roughly $1.0 trillion of value added at Microsoft and about $450 billion at Meta since June 30. Tesla, now worth about $1.39 trillion, has lost roughly $270 billion over the same stretch. These are approximations, because share counts change slightly through a quarter.
Why Microsoft, and why the gain is less than it looks
Most of Microsoft's quarter came from one day. The stock closed at $390.54 on July 29 and $451.10 on July 30, a 15.5% jump, after fiscal fourth-quarter results showed Azure growing 43% and commercial contracted revenue up 84% to $678 billion. It has added more since, including a 3.7% gain on September 25 as it relaunched its Copilot app.
The part that a 36% headline hides is where it started. The June 30 close was only about 6% above the $352.83 close on June 25, the day the stock hit its 52-week intraday low of $349.20, after a steep first-half slide that our Microsoft explainer sets out. A good part of the record quarter is a recovery rather than new ground: the shares are still below the 52-week high of $553.72 listed in Nasdaq's quote data.
Meta's run has a similar single catalyst: the stock jumped 11% on September 21 on its Muse AI agent, and rose another 3.2% on Tuesday.
What traders are watching
Quarter-end is Wednesday. Calendar rebalancing by funds that trim winners and top up laggards can make the final session noisy for exactly these names. After that, the next test is earnings: Microsoft's fiscal first quarter also ends Wednesday, and the stock now carries the expectations of a 36% run into that report.
Sources: Nasdaq market data; MarketWatch; Microsoft investor relations and SEC filings; U.S. Treasury daily par yield curve. Returns and value estimates are Chronicle calculations. This is market information, not investment advice.
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