Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) stock rose 5.95% to $552 in Wednesday trading on November 4, 2026, as investors assessed the company's latest quarterly earnings and a long-term cloud agreement with Anthropic. Shares traded above key moving averages, and the technical outlook places $563.62 at the upper end of the expected near-term range. The advance followed Microsoft's October 28 fiscal first-quarter report.

Strong Cloud Results Drive the Gains

Microsoft reported revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter ended September 30, an increase of 19% from a year earlier. Net income rose 32% year over year to $36.63 billion.

Azure revenue grew 48%, while Microsoft Cloud sales reached $63.9 billion. The company reported $677 billion in remaining commercial contracts and forecast Azure growth of 49% to 50% in constant currency for the coming quarter. Azure's 48% expansion ran well ahead of the company's 19% overall revenue growth, a gap that shows how much of the quarter's momentum came from cloud services, and the $677 billion figure represents a backlog of contracted business to be recognized in future periods.

Anthropic Agreement Adds Multiyear Cloud Commitments

Anthropic's latest filing disclosed a commitment to spend at least $44.9 billion with Microsoft between November 2026 and June 2033. The minimum applies regardless of actual usage, which makes the deal a contracted revenue floor rather than a usage forecast: spending locked in across multiple fiscal years no matter how much compute Anthropic ultimately draws. Anthropic and Microsoft signed the deal in 2025 and amended it in 2026.

Anthropic is also expanding the use of its Claude models in business software. A recent Claude security integration shows other companies building around its products, as reported by Blockonomi.

Microsoft said demand for Azure computing still exceeds available capacity. Its latest quarter included $45.2 billion in capital spending, much of it directed toward chips and other equipment — outlays best read against that supply-demand imbalance, since they are capacity purchases aimed at demand the company says it cannot currently serve. Demand for data centers also featured in Riot Platforms' $28 billion AI lease, announced this week, while Microsoft continues to expand computing capacity for customers.

Technical Indicators Point to Near-Term Resistance

At $552, Microsoft traded above its 20-day moving average of $521 and its 50-day average of $525.84. Its 200-day average stood at $438.46, keeping the longer-term price trend higher. Holding all three commonly watched averages at once describes an uptrend across short-, medium-, and long-term horizons.

The relative strength index, stochastic RSI, and commodity channel index showed overbought conditions in the supplied technical snapshot — a reading that flags stretched momentum rather than a directional call on its own. MACD and ADX were neutral, while the Awesome Oscillator favored buyers.

Key Price Levels Shape the Next Sessions

The Kijun line, part of the Ichimoku indicator system, stood at $528.44, below the $540.38 support level. The short-term technical range extends to $563.62, which serves as resistance if shares keep rising.

Trading above $563.62 would break that range, while a drop below $540.38 would weaken the current setup. Neither outcome is certain over the next few sessions.

One calendar marker adds context: the quarter just reported ended September 30, before the Anthropic commitment's minimum-spend window opened in November 2026. Meanwhile, OpenAI's revised financing target has drawn attention to funding pressures across the AI sector. Microsoft continues investing in infrastructure while serving customers developing and running artificial intelligence systems.

The next two to three trading sessions will show whether MSFT stock holds its gains above $552 or returns toward the lower part of the projected range.

Source: Blockonomi