MARKET WRAPS
STOCKS: Stocks finished mixed as a rotation out of the tech sector continued.
TREASURYS: Treasury yields finished mixed as a weak survey of January jobs growth weighed on the two-year yield.
FOREX: The U.S. dollar ticked up against rivals as traders weighed jobs data.
COMMODITIES: Oil futures rose after Iran walked away from proposed talks with the U.S. in Turkey. Gold and silver futures added to recent gains as a rebound from last week's crash continues.
HEADLINES
Alphabet Reports Solid Earnings. The Stock Is Still Down.
Google parent-company Alphabet reported solid fourth-quarter earnings results Wednesday afternoon. Its shares were down about 5% in after-hours trading.
Earnings-per-share were $2.82, above Wall Street's consensus estimate of $2.63, rising from $2.15 last year. Revenue for the quarter reached $113.8 billion, ahead of expectations for $111.3 billion, and up 18% on the year.
This is breaking news. Read a preview of Alphabet's earnings below and check back for more analysis soon.
Private-Sector Job Growth Cooled in January
Hiring in the new year is off to a slow start.
America's private sector added 22,000 jobs in January, human-resources firm ADP estimated on Wednesday, less than half the tally expected by analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. The new numbers suggest hiring slowed from the already-soft 37,000 new private-sector jobs that ADP reported in December.
The new numbers don't offer a complete picture of the entire labor market. Unlike the federal jobs report released each month, ADP doesn't track government hiring, such as immigration officers or public-school teachers. But the numbers do offer a vital measure of employment in private companies, small businesses and large corporations. Such alternative data sources are becoming more prominent as government reports are delayed by shutdowns.
Trump Says He Spoke With China's Xi About Iran
WASHINGTON-President Trump said he spoke Wednesday with Xi Jinping about the "situation in Iran," hours after the Chinese leader held a call with Moscow on those same escalating tensions.
The sequence of the calls underscored the divide among the world's major powers over the Middle East. In a social-media post, Trump highlighted the trade aspects of his conversation with Xi that included China's purchases-by the country that is the largest buyer of Iranian oil-of U.S. oil and gas.
During Xi's videoconference with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier Wednesday, the two leaders appeared to be hardening in a united front. According to Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, Xi and Putin "checked their approaches," aligning their positions on global flashpoints, including over Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.
U.S. Enlists Mexico, EU and Japan in Its Minerals Race With China
WASHINGTON-The U.S. has agreed to work with Japan, Mexico and the European Union on the development of critical minerals used in industries such as defense, the Trump administration said on Wednesday.
The move builds on President Trump's efforts to combat China's dominance in the sector. Under the proposed agreements, the nations will work together to identify critical minerals necessary for certain industries and develop policies to encourage their mining and processing into products like rare earth magnets, U.S. officials said. Such minerals are used in components critical for the production of high-end military technologies and consumer products such as cars.
China currently dominates the critical minerals and rare earths sector, accounting for about 90% of the processing capacity necessary to turn the minerals into useful products like rare earth magnets, according to the International Energy Administration. Last year, Beijing put new license requirements on exports of those magnets, allowing it to cut off the supply of the products to industries from automakers to defense contractors, potentially grinding them to a halt.
Qualcomm Gives Weak Guidance. The Stock Is Falling.
Qualcomm gave a disappointing outlook for its current quarter. Its shares were falling in after-hours trading.
For the December quarter, the chip company reported earnings per share of $3.50, compared to Wall Street's consensus estimate of $3.39, according to FactSet. Revenue came in at $12.25 billion, which was above analysts' expectations of $12.13 billion.
But Qualcomm forecast a revenue range for the current quarter of $10.2 billion to $11 billion, which was below the consensus of $11.11 billion.
RTX to Increase Missile Production Under Pentagon Deals
RTX's Raytheon division committed to surging its missile output after months of pressure from Pentagon officials.
The defense contractor said Wednesday it reached agreements with the Defense Department to speed deliveries and increase production capacity of Tomahawk missiles, AMRAAM missiles and multiple versions of its Standard Missiles.
Under agreements that last up to seven years, RTX committed to double or in some cases quadruple certain missile production rates. The surge would increase production of Tomahawks to more than 1,000 a year, AMRAAMs to at least 1,900 a year, and SM-6s to more than 500 a year.
Nike Is Investigated for Alleged Discrimination Against White Workers
Federal workforce regulators have accused Nike of discriminating against white workers.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday it filed a subpoena enforcement action against the company in a federal court in Missouri.
The agency is investigating allegations that Nike's diversity, equity and inclusion objectives resulted in "a pattern or practice of disparate treatment against white employees."
U.S. Services-Sector Activity Continues to Rise in January
U.S. services-sector activity continued to rise in January, the second month in a row all four subindexes remained in expansion, a monthly survey said.
The Institute for Supply Management's purchasing managers index for services providers was 53.8, in-line with the seasonally adjusted figure in December. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected a reading of 53.5. A reading above 50 suggests economic growth, while one below 50 indicates contraction.
"There was more respondent commentary in January on tariff impacts and uncertainty, potentially the result of annual contract renewals and geopolitical tensions," said Steve Miller, chair of the ISM.
U.S. January Econ Data Will Come Next Week After Brief Shutdown Delay
The government's official January jobs and inflation figures will land next week after a short delay caused by the recent partial-government shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.
The January jobs report, originally scheduled for Friday, will now be published on Wednesday, Feb. 11. The January consumer-price index, originally scheduled for next Wednesday, will now appear on Friday, Feb. 13.
The statistics system had barely caught up with more extensive delays caused by last fall's government shutdown when another funding lapse this week pushed back the publication of January data. The latest shutdown will prove far less disruptive, because unlike the six-week closure that began in October, the partial shutdown this week was too brief to cause serious interruptions to the government's data-collection efforts.
Texas Instruments to Acquire Silicon Labs in Deal Valued at $7.5 Billion
Texas Instruments said Wednesday it has agreed to acquire wireless-technology company Silicon Labs in a deal with an enterprise value of about $7.5 billion, including cash and debt.
The semiconductor company said it would buy Austin, Texas-based Silicon Labs-whose technology has a range of applications in homes, healthcare and industry-for $231 a share in cash.
Silicon Labs shares surged 26% in premarket trading Wednesday. Texas Instruments fell 3.5%.
TALKING POINT AI Threatens a Wall Street Cash Cow: Financial and Legal Data
For years it seemed like a surefire business model: amass vast troves of financial data and sell it to Wall Street for a premium. Then Claude came along.
Shares of companies such as S&P Global, MSCI, Intercontinental Exchange, London Stock Exchange Group and FactSet Research Systems all tumbled this week after fast-growing artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic unveiled a new suite of tools for automating legal tasks.
The new legal plug-in for Anthropic's Cowork assistant, powered by its AI model Claude, didn't seem to have much to do with financial data. Nonetheless, LSEG-which has spent years pivoting away from its traditional stock-exchange business to selling data and analytics-slid 13% on Tuesday, and its shares dropped further Wednesday morning.
S&P Global and FactSet were also hit with double-digit losses on Tuesday, while ICE and MSCI both fell more than 5%.
The losses highlighted the expanding threat of AI-driven disruption for financial services and the white-collar professionals who work in the sector.
In recent months, the sophistication of a new Claude-based tool for writing code rattled software engineers and raised concern about its impact on the broader tech industry. Anthropic's rollout of new legal tools added to similar fears for lawyers and hit the stock of companies that run legal-research databases, such as Thomson Reuters.
The selloff rippled out into a swath of other companies, as investors assessed which businesses are next in line for disruption by AI.
--Alexander Osipovich and Ben Dummett
Expected Major Events for Thursday
02:00/JPN: Jan Imported Vehicle Sales
07:00/GER: Dec Manufacturing orders
07:00/GER: Dec Manufacturing turnover
07:45/FRA: Dec Industrial production index
09:00/UK: Jan UK monthly car registrations figures
09:00/ITA: Dec Retail Sales
09:30/UK: Jan S&P Global UK Construction PMI
12:00/UK: Bank of England Monetary Policy Report
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
February 04, 2026 16:38 ET (21:38 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments