Good Enough. All three major indexes staged quite the rebound on Thursday, driven by renewed optimism in tech stocks.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite popped 2.8%, while the S&P 500 rose 1.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.2%.

The day's gains are a welcome change from the topsy-turvy performance of the past week, including yesterday's slide following Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's somewhat confusing press conference.

Blowout earnings from Microsoft -- released Wednesday afternoon -- helped energize the tech sector on Thursday. Microsoft stock rose 15.5% today, recording its largest single-day increase since 2008, and its largest post-earnings bump on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The company gained $449.7 billion in market cap, notching the largest one-day market cap gain for any U.S. company on record.

Sandisk had a good day, too. The company closed 26% higher, snapping a four-day losing streak and marking its largest stock price percentage increase since Jan. 6.

That said, equity gains were far from widespread. Nearly two-thirds of the S&P 500's components were trading lower, and the equal-weight S&P 500 was in the red, notes my colleague, Naomi Buchanan.

Whether the tech earnings boost carries into tomorrow depends on investors' overnight assessment of Apple and Amazon.com's earnings. Both companies topped expectations, but Amazon stock popped immediately following the release, while Apple shares fell, setting major indexes up for a tug of war tomorrow.

The Hot Stock: Sandisk +26% The Biggest Loser: Fair Isaac -17%

Best Sector: Information Technology +5.2% Worst Sector: Communication Services -2.5%

Middle powers, assemble

America-first foreign policy is having some interesting side effects, not least of which is strengthening ties between so-called "middle powers."

Since January, Canada, Japan, Australia, South Korea, and various European nations have signed a host of new trade and defense agreements aimed at tighten partnerships outside of the dual hegemony of the U.S. and China.

"In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice: Compete with each other for favor, or to combine to create a third path with impact," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Escaping U.S. influence altogether is next to impossible, and setting up a functional third-power alliance is going to be a logistical nightmare for these countries.

But it's undeniable that they're forging new ties with each other, which Sahil Mahtani, director of Ninety One's Investment Institute, believes will unlock a multiyear "capex supercycle" from both the public and private sector.

Increasing trade and defense ties means countries will commit to spending on commodities, weapons, and services among each other, demanding more investment across the supply chain. For instance, Australia and Japan pledged over $1 billion combined to strengthen the critical minerals trade between both countries, matching Australia's rich mineral wealth with Japan's booming industry demand.

Read more about how this could play out across portfolios in this week's issue of Barron's Global Signals.

The Calendar

AbbVie, Ares Management, Cboe Global Markets, Chevron, Colgate-Palmolive, Dominion Energy, ExxonMobil Holdings, Franklin Resources, Linde, LyondellBasell Industries, Moderna, and T. Rowe Price Group report earnings tomorrow.

What We're Reading Today

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      Finally Over? 
 
   -- SEC Charges Entrepreneurs Tied to Investment Show on Elon Musk's X 
 
   -- Bond Vigilantes Push Back Against the Fed's Inertia. Who Pays the Price. 
 
   -- Why This Morning's Stock Rally May Be a Selling Opportunity 

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