Microsoft inked a $1.5 billion deal with Vodafone
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock is 0.8% higher this afternoon to trade at $391.23. The equity earlier hit an all-time high of $394.03, after inking a $1.5 billion deal with Vodafone (VOD). The 10-year partnership will bring generative artificial intelligence (AI), digital, enterprise, and cloud services to more than 300 million businesses and users across Europe and Africa.
The Big Tech concern is on fire in the first month of the year, especially after its market cap rose to $2.89 trillion last week to overtake Apple (AAPL) as the world's most valuable public company. Investments in the accelerating AI market have boosted MSFT's share price, while slower iPhone sales in China are pressuring AAPL.
In response, Microsoft stock once again landed on Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White's list of stocks with the highest weekly options volume in the last two weeks. Per White's data, 3,017,416 calls and 1,440,794 puts were exchanged over the last two weeks, with the weekly 1/12 385-strike call standing as the most popular contract over this time period.
As previously mentioned, MSFT is trading at record highs, and today crossed the $390 mark for the second time ever. Just three weeks into 2024, the security is already up 4.1% year to date, and boasts a 63.5% year-over-year lead.
