Markets News, Jan. 29, 2026: S&P 500, Nasdaq End Lower as Microsoft Shares Drop 10%, Software Stocks Slide

Apple Results Top Wall Street Expectations

Shares of Apple rose in after-hours trading Thursday after the tech giant reported fiscal first-quarter financial results that beat Street expectations for sales and net income.

Apple’s stock, down about 5% for the year as of today’s close, were recently up about 1%.

The company said first-quarter (ended Dec. 27) revenue was 143.8 billion, ahead of Wall Street’s $138.1 billion expectation according to Visible Alpha, while net income was $42.1 billion, beating the consensus expectation of $39.5 billion.

Apple reported more than $85 billion in quarterly revenue for its iPhone segment, its largest by far.

The company said iPhone sales were $85.3 billion, up 23% year-over-year. That accounted for about 60% of the company’s quarterly revenue.

“iPhone had its best-ever quarter driven by unprecedented demand, with all-time records across every geographic segment,” CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.

Wall Street was looking for a bit less than $79 billion in iPhone sales, according to Visible Alpha data.

Read more about Apple's earnings report, as well results from other major tech companies here.

-David Marino-Nachison

A Construction Giant is Getting a Boost from AI

America's construction and farming equipment giant Caterpillar has become a big beneficiary of the AI boom.

Shares of Caterpillar (CAT) climbed 3.4% to close at a record high above $665 Thursday, after the company posted quarterly results that topped estimates, thanks in part to strong demand for machinery and equipment to build out AI data centers.

The latest gains extend a blistering rally for Caterpillar's stock that's seen the shares surge 16% in January so far. They've added more than three-quarters of their value over the past 12 months, making Caterpillar the Dow Jones Industrial Average's top performer over the period.

Caterpillar on Thursday morning reported an adjusted $5.16 per share on a 18% year-over-year rise in revenue to $19.1 billion for the fourth quarter. Both figures topped analysts' projections compiled by Visible Alpha.

Sales in the company's construction industries segment grew 15%, while the power generation portion of Caterpillar's power and energy division that makes large engines and generators used to power data centers saw revenue surge 44%.

CEO Joe Creed said during Thursday's earnings call that Caterpillar expects investments in data centers "will further bolster overall construction spending" this year, according to a transcript from AlphaSense.

Wall Street analysts are somewhat divided on whether Caterpillar's stock has room to rise, however. Though ratings are still in flux, the nine analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha are split between five "buy" and four "hold" ratings. With Thursday's gains, the stock has climbed past their mean target around $662.

-Aaron McDade

Amazon in Talks to Invest Up to $50B in OpenAI, Report Says

Another big-name company reportedly is looking to invest in OpenAI.

Citing people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon (AMZN) is in talks to invest up to $50 billion in the ChatGPT maker. The Journal last month reported that OpenAI—which counts Microsoft (MSFT) and Japanese conglomerate SoftBank among its backers—was seeking up to $100 billion in fresh capital.

Amazon, which also has invested in OpenAI rival Anthropic, announced it would be laying off 16,000 employees yesterday, three months after eliminating 14,000 positions.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump Wants Lower Mortgage Rates, Not Cheaper Houses

When President Donald Trump has talked about his recent proposals to make housing more affordable, he's focused on one particular cost: mortgage rates.

He also made clear that he doesn't want to hurt housing prices. It’s part of an effort to make homeownership more affordable without driving down housing values. 

“I am very protective of people that already own a house,” Trump said. “Because we have had such a good run, the house values have gone up tremendously, and these people have become wealthy.”

But whether housing affordability can be meaningfully improved without lowering home prices has raised questions among some economists.

Read the full article here.

-Terry Lane

Tesla Is Promoting Its 'FSD' Sales. They're Also an Important Part of Elon Musk's Pay

Is Tesla's self-driving software selling? Investors can now see for themselves.

The EVs-and-more company last night reported its latest financial results, sharing news that has the shares drooping on a down day for stocks. Tesla (TSLA) also shared a number of updates on changes to its business—including the decision to scrap two car models in favor of factory space to build robots, but also the addition of a line item about how many active subscriptions it has for its "FSD" product.

That decision follows the Magnificent Seven company's move to shift the product from a one-time purchase to a subscription, which bears the promise of recurring revenue but passes on larger one-time payments.

The company on Wednesday reported 1.1 million active subscriptions as of the end of 2025, up from 1 million at the end of Q3 and 800,000 at the end of 2024. (Most of the current subscriptions are still of the one-time variety, making that an inflection point likely to be watched closely. FSD revenue, meanwhile, wasn't broken out.)

Read the full article here.

-David Marino-Nachison

Tech Companies Are Still Spending Heavily on AI. Investors Want to See More Than Big Numbers

Investors appear to be over AI spending. They want to see AI earnings.

Meta Platforms (META) stock soared Thursday after the social-media giant said revenue growth is accelerating thanks to its massive investments in artificial intelligence. Meta’s capital expenditures—what it spends on property and capital equipment, including data center hardware—were up 50% in the fourth quarter of 2025, and are expected to increase by more than 90% this year.

Meta’s AI spending far exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, but so did top- and bottom-line growth, which investors attributed to AI-driven improvements in its core advertising business. Ad revenue grew 24% in the fourth quarter, driven by an 18% increase in impressions and a 6% increase in average prices. Meta forecast revenue would grow even faster in the current quarter—up to 33.5%, its fastest rate since 2021, when the company took in half the revenue it does today.

Wall Street analysts agreed on Thursday that Meta’s revenue growth offset skepticism about its expenses. “AI is driving returns, and more for Meta than peers,” wrote Bank of America analysts. JPMorgan analysts said the report “could put Meta back on track toward earning the right to invest” in AI infrastructure after spooking Wall Street with its capex plans last quarter.

Read the full article here.

-Colin Laidley

Meta Is a Top S&P Gainer Today. Here's Why The Social-Media Stock Is Surging

Meta Platforms is the only company in the Magnificent 7 living up to the name today.

Shares of the social media giant were recently up more than 9% on Thursday, and at year-to-date highs, after last night's fourth-quarter earnings report last beat Wall Street estimates across metrics, suggesting that its efforts in artificial intelligence are paying off.

Investors rewarded Meta (META) for the news: Its stock is among the top gainers in the S&P 500, and it's the only member of the group of seven big U.S. tech stocks climbing. The rest—Nvidia (NVDA), Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Tesla (TSLA)—were mostly sliding, while Apple (AAPL) was clinging to small gains.

Upbeat sentiment around Meta is pushing analysts to produce glowing reports and raise their price targets, distributing optimistic perspectives on its efforts to raise engagement and improve monetization with the help of machine-learning. All 24 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha have a buy rating on the stock; their mean price target, $868, implies upside of 20% from recent prices.

"We have a balance of new things that we're trying to do, while also investing very heavily in making sure that all of the work that we're doing in AI improves both the quality and business performance of the core apps and businesses that we run there," said CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, per a conference-call transcript provided by AlphaSense.

Read the full article here.

-Crystal Kim

Investors Show Southwest the 'LUV' Thursday

Southwest Airlines' fiscal 2026 profit forecast has investors showing the carrier their "LUV."

Shares of Southwest (LUV) soared nearly 15% to lead the S&P 500 Thursday, a day after the carrier guided for 2026 adjusted earnings per share of "at least $4.00." That would represent an increase of at least 330% from fiscal 2025's adjusted EPS of $0.93.

Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected full-year adjusted EPS of $3.15.

The carrier, which last year started charging for checked bags for the first time under pressure from Elliott Investment Management, this week began flying routes with assigned seating.

Like its rivals Delta Air Lines (DAL), United Airlines (UAL), and American Airlines (AAL), Southwest was profitable in 2025, registering $441 million in net income, yet lost money actually flying passengers. Southwest registered higher cost per available seat mile (CASM), 15.35 cents, than passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM), 14.18 cents.

Including today's sharp gains, Southwest shares are up nearly 50% over the past year.

Why Microsoft's Stock Is Tumbling Thursday

Microsoft (MSFT) shares are taking a big hit after the company reported earnings yesterday.

The shares were down nearly 12% around $425 in recent trading, leading losses on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq. Read Investopedia's full coverage of today's trading here.

While Microsoft's quarterly revenue and earnings topped analysts' estimates, worries about the tech giant's cloud growth, coupled with its rising spending on AI and reliance on a few large customers, weighed on the shares.

Morgan Stanley analysts said that while growth from Microsoft's Azure cloud narrowly beat the company's guidance, it grew slower than many on Wall Street anticipated.

Read the full article here.

-Aaron McDade

Dollar Hits 4-Year Low—How It Could Impact Your Wallet and Financial Plans

The dollar just hit its lowest level in four years, and you're going to feel it. The U.S. Dollar Index dropped to 96 today, down almost 11% over the past year, but President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday that he's "not concerned" about the currency's decline.

For you, a weaker dollar means pricier imports, higher fuel costs, and potentially steeper interest rates on your mortgage, car loan, and credit cards. Below, we tell you why and what you can do about it.

The dollar weakens when global investors and foreign central banks question the stability of U.S. dollar-denominated assets, and a volatile cocktail of factors set off the recent slide. The Fed cut rates three times in late 2025, and lower rates typically weaken currencies. In addition, concerns over inflation persist, along with geopolitical tensions over Greenland and trade policy, questions about Fed independence following a Department of Justice investigation into Chair Jerome Powell, and speculation about coordinated U.S.-Japan currency intervention to support the yen.

Since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944, the U.S. dollar has served as the world's primary reserve currency. Central banks worldwide hold dollars to back their own currencies, and the dollar has long been the dominant medium of exchange in international trade.

But now, analysts say economic and geopolitical uncertainty has sparked what analysts call the "Sell America" trade, where investors simultaneously dump U.S. stocks, bonds, and dollars. Gold topped $5,500 an ounce this week, up about 20% year-to-date, as investors seek a safe haven—something the U.S. dollar used to represent.

Read the full article here.

-Peter Gratton

Tech Sector Leads S&P 500 Declines Thursday

It's been a terrible trading day thus far for tech shares.

The S&P 500 Information Technology Sector was by far the worst performer out of the 11 industries tracked by the benchmark index, with shares down roughly 3.5%.

Three stocks—Microsoft (MSFT), First Solar (FSLR), and ServiceNow (NOW)—were down by double-digit percentages, while another six were down at least 7%.

The only stock with gains of more than about 2% was IBM (IBM), which was up about 6%.

Just four of the 11 sectors were in the red in recent trading, but because the tech sector was down so sharply, the S&P 500 overall was down 1%.

Buffett and Munger's Strategy to Shield Your Portfolio from a 50% Market Drop

Charlie Munger, the former Berkshire Hathaway vice chair who died in 2023, argued that investors must be prepared for a brutal reality: If you can’t stomach a 50% decline in your portfolio, you’ll never achieve exceptional results.

While many hope for an easy path to wealth, Munger’s rule remains one of the most straightforward and most challenging tests for anyone serious about investing in stocks over the long term.

“You can argue that if you're not willing to react with equanimity to a market price decline of 50% two or three times a century, you're not fit to be a common shareholder, and you deserve the mediocre result you're going to get," Munger told the BBC in 2009. Facing such a huge drop is not just theoretical—during the 2008 financial crisis, Berkshire Hathaway’s shares lost more than half of their value, as did countless other high-quality companies. 

“A 50% drop isn’t fun, but it’s part of investing," Taylor Kovar, a certified financial planner and CEO of 11 Financial, told Investopedia. "If you’re going to stick with it long enough to see real growth, you’ve got to be able to stay in when things get rough.” The rule is simple but forces investors to confront their��true risk tolerance, especially during panicked markets.

Read the full article here.

-Tobi Opeyemi Amure

Is Your Salary Competitive? Average Earnings by Age Group

Once you've settled into a new job, you might find yourself focused on the day-to-day, filling your time with meetings, tasks, and projects that keep you busy. You might not think much about how your paycheck stacks up against others'—until you start wondering whether you're being paid what you're worth.

But stepping back to ask a simple question—how does my income compare to others my age?—can give you a better sense of your career trajectory.

When you're starting your career, your income will likely be the lowest it'll ever be. Though it can be tough to make things work on an entry-level salary, you won't be here forever.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the median weekly salary for someone between the ages of 16 and 24 is $771. That's $40,092 per year.

Read the full article here.

-Jeanette Beebe

Las Vegas Sands Stock Drops as Macao Adjusted Property EBITDA Underwhelms

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) outperformed on the top and bottom lines in its fiscal 2025 fourth quarter. The stock is dropping anyway.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands fell 6% before markets opened Thursday, a day after the casino operator reported Macao adjusted property EBITDA of $608 million, below the consensus expectation of $628 million of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha.

"We are disappointed with that EBITDA number," Las Vegas Sands CEO Robert Goldstein said on the earnings call, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense.

Adjusted EBITDA for its Marina Bay Sands property in Singapore of $806 million outperformed expectations of $692 million.

The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.85 on revenue of $3.65 billion. Both topped estimates.

Las Vegas Sands shares entered the day having risen more than 40% over the past year.

Americans Say They Know More About Reality TV Than Saving Money—Here's How That Costs You Every Day

A new survey of 2,000 Americans commissioned by LendingClub and conducted by Talker Research revealed that, on a scale from one to 10, America’s number one area of expertise is reality TV show drama at 6.4. This is followed by social media trends and home improvement/DIY projects, both at 6.0, and trending music at 5.9. Interest rates followed at 5.7, but saving money was dead last at just 3.9.

These figures speak to the need for greater financial literacy in the U.S. and why many Americans may believe common myths about savings accounts. The existing confidence gap matters because saving money is not just a long-term goal—it shapes daily decisions about where cash sits, how quickly it grows, and how prepared households are for unexpected expenses. When people feel unsure about basic savings mechanics, they may default to habits that quietly erode their financial footing.

The survey also revealed that the majority of respondents are unaware of how their money grows—79% of respondents have a savings account that’s earning interest on their money; however, 43% are unaware of what that specific interest rate actually is.

Read the full article here.

-Adam Palasciano

Buying a Home Is Cheaper Than Renting in 57% of Counties—Here’s the Catch

It’s cheaper to own a home than rent, but the high upfront costs of home ownership are keeping many potential buyers in rental properties, a new report showed.

In 57% of counties analyzed by real estate data firm ATTOM, the cost of renting a three-bedroom property was higher than owning it.

“The data shows that buying is typically the most affordable long-term option, but as the housing market sets new record-high prices quarter after quarter, affording the initial investment becomes increasingly challenging," said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM, in a release.

The study comes as home prices continued to rise nationwide. The National Association of Realtors data shows that prices rose for the 30th straight month in December.

Read the full article here.

-Terry Lane

Dow Inc. to Lay Off About 4,500 Employees in 'Transform to Outperform' Plan

Dow Inc. (DOW) is aiming "to radically simplify" its operating model. This includes about 4,500 layoffs.

Before the bell Thursday, the Midland, Mich.-based materials science company announced fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter results as well as a "Transform to Outperform" plan that intends to "reset its cost structure and modernize how it serves customers."

The plan "targets the addition of at least $2 billion in near-term Op. EBITDA, in part by utilizing AI and automation to deliver step change in growth and productivity and improve shareholder returns," Dow said.

Dow sees about $1.1 billion to $1.5 billion in one-time costs associated with the plan, including roughly $600 million to $800 million in severance.

"Transform to Outperform will drive significant simplification in how work gets done, aimed at ensuring Dow's continued global leadership," Dow CEO Jim Fitterling said. "By leveraging best-in-class, cross-industry processes and leading-edge technologies, this work will further accelerate measures we have already taken to address the prolonged trough and structural industry challenges."

For the fourth quarter, Dow reported an adjusted loss of $0.34 per share on net sales that fell 9% year-over-year to $9.46 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected an adjusted loss of $0.45 per share on sales of $9.45 billion.

Dow shares fell 2.5% before the bell. They entered the day having lost about a third of their value over the past year.

Here's How Much Traders Expect Apple Stock to Move After Earnings Thursday

Apple is slated to report its fiscal first-quarter earnings after the closing bell Thursday, with traders anticipating a sizable move in the iPhone maker's stock following the results.

Based on current options pricing, traders expect Apple's (AAPL) stock could move about 4% in either direction by the end of the week. A move of that size from Wednesday's close around $256 could lift the stock to $266 at the high end, 7% off its December record, while the low end would put shares around $247.

Apple shares are currently about 11% below their early December highs reached amid positive signals about the global smartphone market and demand for the iPhone 17. The tech giant topped estimates in its last report in October, when CEO Tim Cook said Apple looked to be on track for its best-ever holiday season for iPhone sales.

Read the full article here.

-Aaron McDade

Elon Musk's Latest Big Move: Tesla Won't Make Two of Its Car Models Anymore

Elon Musk wants investors to think of Tesla as more than a car company—and it looks like he means business.

The Tesla (TSLA) CEO on Wednesday said the company would stop producing two of its EV models—the Model S sedan and the Model X small SUV—by the end of the first half of 2026. The change will for now leave the company's consumer lineup with the Model 3 sedan, it's most affordable vehicle at present; the Model Y SUV; and the Cybertruck. (Tesla also alluded to progress on a new high-end Roadster earlier in the day.)

The decision, Musk said during a Wednesday conference call following Tesla's latest results, was "slightly sad. But it is time to bring the S [and] X programs to an end. It's part of our overall shift to an autonomous future."

Musk is in the process of leading Tesla through a high-stakes—for both him and the company—transition from a carmaker into a business he hopes to position at the forefront of autonomous driving, robotics and artificial intelligence. Its auto deliveries fell year-over-year in 2025, and Musk among other things wants to start producing its Optimus robots at scale this year.

That's part of the reason he's ending the S and X programs: Musk on Wednesday said he would take Fremont., Calif., factory space currently used to make them and repurpose it to make the robots instead.

Read the full article here.

-David Marino-Nachison

Stock Futures Little Changed After Flurry of Tech Earnings

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were fractionally lower.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 futures also pointed 0.1% higher.