Stock indexes settled sharply higher on Thursday after strong growth at Microsoft reassured investors that massive spending on artificial intelligence is starting to pay off. The outlook for strong Q2 earnings, which continue this week, is a bullish factor for stocks. Forecasts compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence suggest Q2 earnings may increase by +23%, close to Q1's blowout earnings of +30%, which was more than double the +12% analysts had expected. So far, earnings results have been positive, with 86% of the 272 S&P 500 companies that have reported Q2 earnings beating estimates, according to Bloomberg data. Avery Dennison (AVY) closed up more than +4% after reporting Q2 net sales of $2.46 billion, better than the consensus of $2.30 billion.