(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

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Indexes up: Dow 0.47%, S&P 500 0.82%, Nasdaq 1.51%

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General Motors ( GM ) gains after offering new forecast

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McDonald's slips after surprise drop in Q1 sales

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Weekly jobless claims higher than forecast

(Updates after economic data)

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal

May 1 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes advanced on

Thursday, led by gains on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, as strong

quarterly results from heavyweights Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Meta pointed

to a resilient outlook for the technology sector.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) surged 8.8%, hitting its highest level

since late January, after it forecast stronger-than-expected

quarterly growth for its cloud-computing business Azure. The

gains helped the stock surpass Apple ( AAPL ) to became the

world's most valuable company.

Meta Platforms ( META ) gained 4.7% after posting

higher-than-expected revenue on the back of a strong advertising

performance.

"Their (Meta and Microsoft's ( MSFT )) outlooks weren't as bleak as

some of the tech companies that we've heard from of late ...

momentum coming into the day after a late-day rally yesterday

combined with better news on two of the Mag Seven names, (and)

you've got the potential set-up for a pretty good start to a new

month," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley

Wealth.

The strong results helped calm jitters over an increasingly

uncertain outlook for businesses caused by erratic shifts in

U.S. tariff policy and an escalating trade war with China.

Other technology megacaps also rose, with Nvidia ( NVDA ) up

3.8%.

The information technology and communication

services sectors rose 2.6% and 1.2%, respectively.

At 10:01 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 189.96 points, or 0.47%, to 40,859.32, the S&P 500

gained 42.73 points, or 0.82%, to 5,614.85 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 262.71 points, or 1.51%, to 17,709.06.

The Nasdaq was trading at levels last seen on March 28

and was on track to recoup all declines since the April 2

announcement of reciprocal tariffs.

Results from megacaps Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Apple ( AAPL ) are

due after markets close. Amazon ( AMZN ) shares were up 2%, while Apple ( AAPL )

slipped 1% after a federal judge ruled the iPhone maker had

violated a U.S. court order to reform its App Store.

Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims data, coming ahead of

Friday's nonfarm payrolls data, showed layoffs increased more

than expected last week, potentially hinting at a pick-up in job

cuts following tariffs.

"It's hard to hide from the number of jobs - either jobless

claims or number of jobs being created - so this may well be the

week where some of the hard data starts to catch up with some of

the soft data," Hogan said.

The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) gauge of

manufacturing activity came in at 48.7 for April, above

estimates of 48, according to economists polled by Reuters.

That followed Wednesday's data showing the U.S. economy

contracted for the first time in three years in the last

quarter.

Among other earnings, Eli Lilly ( LLY ) lost 8.2% after its

quarterly results, while McDonald's dipped 1.4% after

posting a surprise drop in first-quarter global sales.

Mobile chip designer Qualcomm ( QCOM ) fell 7.6% after it

forecast a hit to revenue from the trade war. CVS Health ( CVS )

surged 7.7% after its results.

General Motors ( GM ) gained 1.2% after offering a new

forecast for 2025 core profit.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.94-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 1.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 6 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows while

the Nasdaq Composite recorded 25 new highs and 32 new lows.