What happened Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) climbed 6% on Wednesday after the tech titan's growth forecast helped to calm investors' fears. Now what Coming into the quarter, investors feared that Microsoft's growth would slow significantly due to the potential for inflation -- and the Federal Reserve's moves to tame it -- to drive the economy into a deep and prolonged recession. "As we begin a new fiscal year, we remain committed to balancing operational discipline with continued investments in key strategic areas to drive future growth," Hood said.