Nasdaq MSFT MicroSoft

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq scaled new peaks on Tuesday, helped by a rise in mega-cap stocks and a positive start to the earnings season, while a solid rise in consumer prices in June weighed on sentiment.

The Nasdaq index reversed early declines to hit a record high on Tuesday, helped by a rise in growth-linked megacap stocks and as earnings season kicked off on a positive note, while a solid rise in consumer prices in June weighed on sentiment.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has inked a new multi-year partnership agreement with its long-standing, 40-year old partner NEC Corporation to help accelerate its customers' digital transformation initiatives in Japan and globally. Shares of the tech giant have gained 34% over the past year.

Based in Tokyo, Japan, NEC Corporation is a  global information technology and electronics company providing IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, AI, IoT platforms, and telecommunications equipment and software services to various organizations.

The combination of Microsoft’s Azure, Microsoft 365, and other AI and IoT-based capabilities, with NEC’s IT and related skills, will lead to faster cloud adoption and digital transformation for clients across numerous markets and industries. (See MSFT stock charts on TipRanks)

NEC will embrace Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform, thereby helping customers transcend their business models and create digital workplaces in Japan and globally.

Furthermore, both companies will work on network innovation initiatives and make incremental investments in technical capabilities while also doubling the number of engineers within the NEC Group who are specialists in Microsoft technologies.

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella commented, "As we've seen over the past year, digital adoption curves are accelerating across every industry and business function."

He further added, "Our strategic partnership with NEC brings together the power of Azure and Microsoft 365 with NEC's services and infrastructure expertise to help public and private sector customers build resilience and transform during this era of rapid change."

Rosenblatt Securities analyst John McPeake recently reiterated a Buy rating and a price target of $301 (8.5% upside potential) on the stock.

Consensus among analysts is a Strong Buy based on 26 Buys. The average Microsoft price target of $297.88 implies 7.4% upside potential to current levels.

Microsoft scores a “Perfect 10” on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, indicating that the stock has strong potential to outperform market expectations.

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U.S. stock index futures traded mixed on Tuesday, as investors awaited earnings updates from big banks and a reading on inflation data for early clues on the health of the domestic economy.

Cloud computing providers to the financial sector can be "secretive", and regulators need to act to avoid banks' reliance on a handful of outside firms becoming a threat to financial stability, the Bank of England said on Tuesday.

Software company SolarWinds says that unknown hackers exploited a previously unknown flaw in two of its programs to go after "a limited, targeted set of customers."

The NASDAQ 100 After Hours Indicator is up 2.4 to 14,880.29. The total After hours volume is currently 64,025,264 shares traded.The following are the most active stocks for the after hours session: New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Inc. (EDU) is unchanged at $6.48,

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