MARKET SNAPSHOT
U.S. stocks ended mostly lower, pressured by a 10% drop in Microsoft shares. Treasury yields declined as the November U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected and government officials moved to avoid another shutdown. The dollar was little changed, while gold and silver futures settled higher. Oil futures gained on continued tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
MARKET WRAPS
EQUITIES
Disappointing earnings from Microsoft fed into a tech selloff Thursday, pushing the Nasdaq composite down.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.1% and the Nasdaq fell 0.7%.
Investors recoiled after Microsoft reported higher-than-expected spending on AI infrastructure and slower cloud growth, putting its stock on course for the worst pullback since early 2020. Other notable losers included ServiceNow, Workday and Salesforce. Meta Platforms bucked the trend with a post-earnings rally.
Asia markets were mixed after a day of volatility as traders weighed a packed corporate and economic slate.
In China, the Shanghai Composite closed 0.2% higher. The Shenzhen Composite fell 0.5%, while the ChiNext Price Index declined 0.6%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 0.5% higher, led by gains in property stocks after a state media report said Chinese authorities have eased enforcement of leverage rules, supporting investor confidence in the real-estate sector.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average finished flat, with gains in financial and electronics stocks helping to offset losses in retail and tech shares.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 Benchmark Index declined 0.1%.
New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 Index ended 0.5% lower.
COMMODITIES
Oil futures rose for a third straight session, settling at multimonth highs as U.S. military moves into the Middle East raised expectations of possible action against Iran.
The market is leaning "further into a momentum-driven move rather than reacting to a single headline," Gelber & Associates said in a note. "The rally is starting to look reflexive, with rising prices themselves pulling in length as recent lows fade from view."
Increased volume suggested a rebuilding of positions after a defensive period, with focus shifting to whether the market can accept prices in the mid-$60s or sees profit-taking, the firm added.
WTI settled up 3.5% at $65.42 a barrel, off its intraday high of $66.48. Brent rose 3.4% to $70.71 a barrel.
Precious metal futures settled higher for the day after briefly dipping earlier in the session.
Front-month gold futures finished up 0.3% to $5,318.40 a troy ounce--another record. Silver also recovered, closing up 0.8% to $114.037/oz., the second-highest close in silver's history.
Precious metals are likely to continue to be supported by dollar weakness and geopolitical risk factors.
"The trend remains up on all scales and should not surprise by its continuance or acceleration straight away and references to this market being 'overbought' disposed of in the circular file," said Dave Toth of StoneX in a note.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
Fed Chair Announcement Is Coming Next Week, Trump Says
President Donald Trump will announce his nominee for the next chair of the Federal Reserve next week, he said at a Cabinet meeting Thursday.
"We're going to be announcing the head of the Fed, who that will be, and that will be a person that will, I think, do a good job," Trump said.
Trump has delayed making a decision as he wrestles with the issue of the Fed's independence. He wants a choice who will lower interest rates by two or three percentage points from their current range of 3.5-3.75%. But the Fed chair doesn't have to listen to the president.
U.S. Factory Orders Rose in November
U.S. factory orders rose in November, the Census Bureau said Thursday.
Orders from U.S. factories rose 2.7% in November to $621.6 billion, from $605.4 billion in October. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal were expecting a 1.3% increase.
The report showed that shipments from factories fell by 0.1% in November after an October increase. Unfilled orders increased by 1.4%, the 16th monthly increase in the past 17 months, the report said.
China Agrees to Lower Tariffs by Half on U.K. Whisky
China has agreed to cut its tariffs in half on whisky from the U.K. during Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to Beijing, the U.K. government said Thursday.
"Our whisky distilleries are the jewel in Scotland's crown," Starmer said. The government said it expects whisky exports to China to be worth roughly 250 million pounds ($345.2 million) to the U.K. economy over the next five years as tariffs are lowered to 5% from 10%.
The move comes as governments are seeking to diversify their trade partnerships after the U.S. began imposing higher tariffs on imports. Scotch whisky destined for the U.S. currently faces a 10% levy, a figure that the Scotch Whisky Association, a trade association, said last year is costing the industry nearly GBP20 million a month in lost exports.
U.S. Trade Deficit Grew in November
The U.S. trade deficit rebounded in November, the Commerce Department said Thursday, extending a turbulent stretch for international trade flows as the economy responds to the Trump administration's tariffs and financial volatility.
In November, U.S. imports rose by 5% to $348.9 billion, while exports decreased by 3.6% to $292.1 billion. Those moves yielded a deficit for the month of $56.8 billion, nearly twice as large as the $29.2 billion deficit recorded in October.
Amid fast-changing trade rules and volatility in financial markets, cross-border flows of gold and pharmaceuticals have been unusually responsible for big swings in trade numbers over the past few months.
Apple Posts Blowout iPhone Sales on Surging China Demand
Apple reported blowout iPhone sales in the December quarter, and record profits, closing out a tumultuous year in which the company confronted tariffs and other challenges in its efforts to roll out new AI features.
IPhone sales of $85.3 billion were up 23% from the prior year period as customers, excited by Apple's new iPhone 17 lineup, upgraded their smartphones faster than usual. That powered Apple to record quarterly sales of nearly $144 billion, results that exceeded Wall Street expectations.
Sales were particularly strong in China, where Apple's results have been uneven in recent years.
Visa First-Quarter Sales Climb on Strong Holiday Shopping
Visa logged higher revenue and profit in the first quarter, citing strong consumer spending through the holidays.
The payments company on Thursday posted a profit of $5.85 billion, or $3.03 a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with $5.12 billion, or $2.58 a share, a year earlier.
Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings were $3.17, ahead of the $3.14 anticipated by analysts, according to FactSet.
Amazon in Talks to Invest Up to $50 Billion in OpenAI
Amazon.com is in talks to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would be a giant bet on the hot AI startup.
The ChatGPT maker is seeking up to $100 billion in new capital from investors, a round that could value it at as much as $830 billion, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
Andy Jassy, Amazon's chief executive, is leading the negotiations with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to some of the people. The exact shape of a deal, should one be reached, could still change, the people said.
Expected Major Events for Friday
00:30/AUS: Dec Financial Aggregates, incl Private Sector Credit
00:30/AUS: 4Q PPI
01:00/JPN: Dec Steel Imports & Exports Statistics
02:00/SIN: Dec Money Supply
02:00/SIN: Dec Bank Loans
04:30/JPN: Dec Preliminary Report on Petroleum Statistics
05:00/JPN: Dec Housing Starts
05:00/JPN: Dec Construction Orders
05:30/AUS: Dec International Reserves & Foreign Currency Liquidity
07:00/MAL: Dec Money Supply
07:30/THA: Weekly International Reserves
08:00/TAI: 4Q Advance GDP
08:15/HK: Dec Money Supply
08:30/HK: 4Q Advance GDP
09:59/HK: Dec Tourism figures
09:59/PHI: Dec Money Supply (M3)
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 29, 2026 16:53 ET (21:53 GMT)
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