08:47 AM EDT, 04/17/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Technology stocks were higher pre-bell Friday, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) gaining 1% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF ( XSD ) 2.4% higher.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) shares were up more than 1% in premarket activity. Microsoft Italy and Expert.ai said they have entered into a collaboration to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence for enterprise use cases.