Amazon and Microsoft’s market values rose by nearly $445 billion in morning trading Nov. 4, as investors weighed the U.S. midterm results alongside demand for cloud services.
Both companies’ shares approached intraday records. Microsoft accounted for about $250 billion of the combined increase, with Amazon making up the rest. Amazon shares rose between 7% and 7.7% during the session, while Microsoft gained between 5% and 7%.
The vote left both chambers of Congress under Democratic control. Investors may have read that shift as a possible advantage for established technology companies with extensive data-center networks, amid expectations that the new Congress could consider policies favorable to them. Voters in several states also approved restrictions on building new data centers.
Cloud performance offered a business backdrop to the rally. Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud division, grew 39%. Microsoft projected that its Azure cloud platform would grow more than 45% in…
