Stock Market Update

Equity futures point to a mixed opening this morning after the major averages took a step back yesterday amid a poor day for tech and mega-cap stocks. 

Software, semiconductors, and other tech names faced a retreat that bled into other growth areas and saw the S&P 500 dip below its 50-day moving average before finding some support, while the Nasdaq Composite closed below its own 50-day moving average. 

Headlines are fairly quiet this morning, though investors are currently receiving another sizable batch of earnings reports. Alphabet (GOOG 344.71, +4.01, +1.2%) reports after the close today, while Amazon (AMZN 239.30, +0.68, -0.3%) reports tomorrow, amid what has been a tough week so far for the mega-caps. 

The market will also receive several economic data releases this morning, including the January ADP Employment Change Report (Briefing.com consensus 43k) at 8:15 a.m. and the January ISM Non-Manufacturing Index (Briefing.com consensus 53.7%) at 10:00 a.m. The MBA Mortgage Applications Index for the week ended January 31 decreased 8.9% from a prior decrease of 8.5%. 

In corporate news:

• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 220.10, -22.01, -9.1%) beat EPS expectations by $0.21, beat revenue expectations, and guided Q1 revenues above consensus. 
• Amgen (AMGN 334.00, -4.59, -1.4%) beat EPS expectations by $0.56, beat revenue expectations, and guided FY26 EPS in line, with revenues in-line. 
• Eli Lilly (LLY 1,088.62, +85.16, +8.5%) beat EPS expectations by $0.63, beat revenue expectations, and guided FY26 EPS above consensus with revenues above consensus. 
• NVIDIA (NVDA 180.63, +0.29, +0.2%) is close to a deal to invest $20 billion in OpenAI, according to Bloomberg. 
• Texas Instruments (TXN 217.58, -7.63, -3.4%) has entered an agreement to acquire Silicon Laboratories (SLAB 206.00, +69.38, +50.78%) for $231 per share in an all-cash transaction. 

Reviewing overnight developments:

Most equity indices in the Asia-Pacific climbed on Wednesday with South Korea's Kospi (+1.6%) extending its record run. Japan's Nikkei: -0.8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng: +0.1%, China's Shanghai Composite: +0.9%, India's Sensex: +0.1%, South Korea's Kospi: +1.6%, Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: +0.6%.

In news:

• January Services PMI readings from the region were largely better-than-expected, showing accelerating activity.
• India's trade minister said that the deal with the U.S., which will remove tariffs on most industrial goods imports from the U.S., is nearly finalized.
• Vietnam's trade minister said that his country is willing to increase purchases of machinery and high-tech products from the U.S.

In economic data:

• China's January RatingDog Services PMI 52.3 (expected 52.0; last 52.0)
• Japan's January Services PMI 53.7 (expected 53.4; last 51.6)
• Hong Kong's January Manufacturing PMI 52.3 (last 51.9)
• India's January Services PMI 58.5 (expected 59.3; last 58.0)
• Australia's January Services PMI 56.3 (expected 56.0; last 51.1)
• New Zealand's Q4 Employment Change 0.5% qtr/qtr (expected 0.3%; last 0.0%), Q4 Unemployment Rate 5.4% (expected 5.3%; last 5.3%), Q4 Participation Rate 70.5% (expected 70.3%; last 70.3%). Q4 Labor Cost Index 0.4% qtr/qtr (expected 0.5%; last 0.5%); 2.0% yr/yr, as expected (last 2.1%)

Major European indices trade on a mostly higher note while Germany's DAX (-0.3%) has failed to keep pace with losses in Deutsche Bank, Siemens, SAP, and Infineon weighing the market down. STOXX Europe 600: +0.4%, Germany's DAX: -0.3%, U.K.'s FTSE 100: +1.4%, France's CAC 40: +0.9%, Italy's FTSE MIB: +0.9%, Spain's IBEX 35: +0.4%.

In news:

• Elsewhere, UBS beat quarterly expectations while Credit Agricole reported a drop in profit.
• The Times Shadow Committee unanimously recommended that the Bank of England keeps its bank rate at 3.75% tomorrow.
• Similarly, the European Central Bank is also expected to leave its policy unchanged tomorrow.

In economic data:

• Eurozone's January Services PMI 51.6 (expected 51.9; last 52.4). Flash January CPI -0.5% m/m (last 0.2%); 1.7% yr/yr, as expected (last 2.3%). January Core CPI 2.2% yr/yr (expected 2.3%; last 2.3%)
• Germany's January Services PMI 52.4 (expected 53.3; last 52.7)
• U.K.'s January Services PMI 54.0 (expected 54.3; last 51.4)
• France's January Services PMI 48.4 (expected 47.9; last 50.1)
• Italy's January Services PMI 52.9 (expected 51.3; last 51.5). Flash January CPI 0.4% m/m, as expected (last 0.2%); 1.0% yr/yr, as expected (last 1.2%)
• Spain's January Services PMI 53.5 (expected 56.6; last 57.1)