The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that U.S. stocks rallied on Thursday, with the Dow and S&P 500 posting their eighth straight session of gains after strong results from megacaps Microsoft and Meta eased concerns about artificial-intelligence spending. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says Canadian stocks ended slightly lower, however, as gold mining shares fell. Microsoft surged 7.6 per cent and closed at its highest level since late January, driven by an upbeat quarterly growth forecast for its cloud-computing business Azure. The gains briefly pushed Microsoft above Apple to become the world's most valuable company. Meta Platforms gained 4.2 per cent and closed at its highest since April 9 after posting higher-than-expected revenue on the back of a strong advertising performance. The results helped allay fears the massive spending on AI in recent years would not be rewarded. The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 46.13 points at 24,795.55. In domestic economic news, Canadian manufacturing activity contracted in April at the steepest rate since shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as the uncertain nature of U.S. trade policy weighed on production and new orders.