Microsoft’s AI Investments Are Starting to Pay Off

Good morning. Microsoft’s hefty investments in artificial intelligence are starting to pay off. Americans are spending big on cosmetic procedures and Wall Street is cashing in. And India’s single malt whiskies are holding their own against scotch. Listen to the day’s top stories.

Microsoft posted stronger-than-projected quarterly revenue growth, fueled by cloud-computing business and Office software, with AI contributing to gains in its Azure cloud platform. Meta projected holiday-quarter sales with a midpoint that topped estimates and said investments in AI helped its core advertising business. However, its spending plan weighed on shares. Another company that fell short of expectations: Coinbase.