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Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq hit pause after tech sell-off in wait for Amazon earnings

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US stock futures turned lower on Thursday in an apparently fruitless search for a reprieve from a two-day tech sell-off as investors waited for Amazon earnings and assessed Alphabet’s big AI spending plans.

S&P 500 futures (ES=F) moved roughly 0.6% lower, while those on the Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) shed 0.9%. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F), which includes fewer tech names, edged about 0.3% lower.

The market is in the midst of a trillion-dollar tech wipeout, as investors weigh whether some software stocks took too big a beating. The losses were spurred by worries about AI disruption — a risk maybe overlooked by investors focused on the fallout from massive AI spending, analysts said.

Wall Street is still digesting the latest batch of corporate earnings, with Big Tech’s AI buildout and demand in high focus. Alphabet (GOOG) shares slid after the Google parent outlined a significant ramp-up in AI investment — to as high as $185 billion — in its quarterly results late Wednesday.

The countdown is now on to Amazon’s (AMZN) quarterly report, set for release after Thursday’s market close. Eyes are on the all-important AWS cloud unit, expected to deliver a 21% jump in sales.

At the same time, silver (SI=F) plunged as much as 17%, erasing all of its two-day recovery as Chinese buyers dumped holdings. While the precious metal pared losses, Wall Street is debating whether the recent record rally in silver and gold (GC=F) ran too high, too fast — and if a further slump awaits.

Elsewhere, bitcoin (BTC-USD) sank after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ruled out a bailout for the digital currency — another disappointment for crypto markets hopeful for a boost from the Trump administration. The token broke below the key $70,000 level amid a crisis of confidence.

Meanwhile, the labor market flashed fresh signals of weakness: Weekly jobless claims rose more than expected, while a new report found that last month marked the worst January for layoff announcements since 2009. The updates came after Wednesday’s ADP report showed businesses added fewer jobs in January than expected. The government’s monthly jobs report is due next Wednesday.

LIVE 15 updates

  • Last month was the worst January for layoff plans since 2009: Challenger

    Yahoo Finance’s Emma Ockerman reports:

    Read more here.

  • Bezos’s ‘darkest day’ and the limits of billionaire-backed media

    Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban reports:

    Jeff Bezos came, he saw, he conquered.

    Maybe not in the way you’d expect from a onetime financial savior of an iconic newspaper. There are now two Bezos eras at the Washington Post: The first started when he rescued it in 2013. The second began when he saw it gutted, blessing mass layoffs the company executed on Wednesday.

    … On social media and in news coverage in the aftermath, Post employees, the labor union, and alumni (myself included) strongly criticized the decision.

    Others have pointed to more recent moves by Bezos.

    Leading up to the Post’s deep cuts, several media observers highlighted Amazon’s enormous budget to produce and market the new documentary “Melania,” about first lady Melania Trump.

    Amazon’s extraordinary spending prompted questions about the movie working as a kind of bribe from Bezos to the White House. (Amazon says they licensed the movie because they think people will love it. The film’s Rotten Tomatoes scores and box office numbers have inspired a news cycle of their own.)

    But the splashy Melania rollout provided an ugly contrast to the austerity Bezos was serving down to the Post’s newsroom. In the worst light, critics said Bezos was willing to burn money to please the president but was now unwilling to do so for journalism in the public interest.

    Read more here in the takeaway from today’s Morning Brief.

  • Nio stock jumps after Chinese EV maker expects to turn profitable

    Chinese EV maker Nio (NIO) sent its shareholders a profit alert on Thursday morning, letting them know that the company expects to post its first-ever profit in the fourth quarter.

    Nio said it will see an adjusted profit from operations of 200 million Chinese yuan (approximately $29 million) to 700 million yuan (approximately $100 million).

    The company attributed the profit to sustained sales growth, improved margins from its product mix, and ongoing cost-cutting measures.

    Nio stock popped 6% in premarket trading.

  • Jenny McCall

    Estée Lauder shares tumble as tariff concerns overshadow strong Q2 results

    Estee Lauder (EL) shares slumped 10% before the bell on Thursday, despite beating analysts’ estimates on earnings per share and revenue, as tariff woes sent the beauty group’s shares tumbling.

    Investing.com reports:

    Read more here.

  • Jenny McCall

    Premarket trending tickers: Strategy, Tapestry and Baidu

    Strategy (MSTR) stock fell over 5% during premarket hours on Thursday after bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell below 70,000. Strategy is one of the largest corporate holders of cryptocurrency.

    Tapestry (TPR) stock rose 5% before the bell. Coach’s parent company beat analysts’ estimates on revenue and raised its full-year guidance.

    Baidu (BIDU) US-listed shares rose 5% before the bell on Thursday after announcing plans to issue its first dividend to shareholders, along with a three-year stock buyback program worth $5 billion.

  • Trillion-dollar tech wiipeout ensnares all stocks in AI’s path

    From Bloomberg:

    Read more here.

  • Bitcoin sinks after Treasury Secretary Bessent says US government can’t tell banks to bail out crypto

    Bitcoin (BTC-USD) tumbled, falling $71,000 per token on Thursday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the US government would not bail out the cryptocurrency.

    But the leading cryptocurrency was paring deeper overnight losses in the wake of Bessent’s comments, after entering the key mid-$70,000 support region.

    Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferré and Grace O’Donnell report:

    Read more here.

  • Snap reports upbeat fourth quarter revenue as holiday season boosts ad spending

    Snap (SNAP) stock galloped higher after a strong holiday quarter for advertising lifted earnings above Wall Street’s estimates.

    Snap stock rose 6% before the bell on Thursday.

    For the fourth quarter, the video messaging app reported revenue of $1.71 billion and earnings per share of $0.03. That beat Wall Street estimates of $1.7 billion in revenue and a $0.03 loss per share, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

    Reuters reports:

    Read more here.

  • E.l.f. Beauty stock jumps on upbeat profit guidance

    E.l.f. Beauty (ELF) demonstrated resilience in the fourth quarter following a difficult 2025, with a strong earnings beat and guidance raise.

    The affordable cosmetics manufacturer lifted its full-year 2026 sales outlook to a range of $1.6 billion to $1.61 billion from its previous range of $1.55 billion to $1.57 billion. The company also sees greater earnings per share of $3.05-$3.10, an increase from the previous range of $2.80-$2.85.

    The stock soared by as much as 8% in premarket trading on Thursdayas the company looks to regain its footing after higher tariffs and other challenges led the stock to lose 40% in 2025. However, the stock pared some of those gains, perhaps due to lower gross margins amid ongoing tariff costs.

    Last year, the company also acquired Hailey Bieber’s Rhode brand.

    In the fourth quarter, e.l.f. reported better-than-expected earnings per share of $0.65 versus $0.55 expected by Wall Street analysts. Net sales jumped 38% to $489.5 million, topping estimates of $461 million, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

    “Our value proposition, powerhouse innovation and disruptive marketing engine continue to fuel our brands,” CEO Tarang Amin said in a statement. “We remain confident in our ability to grow market share and deliver best-in-class growth in beauty, as reflected by our raised fiscal 2026 outlook.”

    Read more about e.l.f.’s quarter from Reuters.

  • Arm Holdings shares fall as licensing sales miss estimates

    Arm Holdings shares fall as licensing sales miss estimates.

    From Reuters:

    Read more here.

  • Jenny McCall

    Broadcom jumps as Alphabet raises its capex forecast

    Broadcom (AVGO) stock rose 5% before the bell on Thursday following Alphabet’s (GOOG) capital expenditure plans, which surpassed analysts’ expectations.

    Google’s parent company forecast 2026 capital expenditures of $180 billion, news that is a potential boon to Broadcom, which partners with Alphabet on custom chips.

    “That is an incredible number. We are laughing because that number is so good for the Google cohort,” Ben Reitzes, Melius Research head of technology research, told CNBC.

    Google is not the only company increasing its capex spend to build AI data centers: Oracle (ORCL) is doing the same and raised its forecast to around $50 billion.

    Google’s AI software doesn’t just use Nvidia (NVDA) chips, but it also uses its own tensor processing units (TPUs). For Gemini 3, Google used TPUs, which Broadcom helped to make.

  • Silver’s sudden 17% plunge wipes out two-day recovery from rout

    Bloomberg reports:

    Silver (SI=F) fell sharply, wiping out a two-day recovery, as the white metal struggled to find a floor following a historic market rout. Gold (GC=F) also declined.

    Spot silver plunged as much as 17% on Thursday, having flickered briefly above $90 an ounce in early Asian trading. After a record-breaking rally that appeared to run too far, too fast, the metal has retreated by more than a third from an all-time high hit on Jan. 29.

    “Sentiment seems to have turned soggy across most asset classes, including regional equities and metals,” said Christopher Wong, a strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. This has created “a feedback loop amid thin market liquidity,” he said.

    The sudden and sharp decline in precious metals also weighed on sentiment in base metals markets, with copper falling more than 1% to slip below $13,000 a ton. Meanwhile, spot gold dropped as much as 3.5% in choppy trading.

    Read more here.

  • Qualcomm stock dives as memory chip shortage weighs on financial outlook

    Qualcomm (QCOM) stock fell around 11% in premarket trading on Thursday after the chip designer’s results beat on the top and bottom lines but its forecast was lighter than expected. A memory chip shortage stemming from data center developers scooping up chips and chipmakers shifting production to cater to AI demand added pressure to the company’s outlook.

    In the fiscal first quarter, the company said revenue increased 5% year over year to $12.3 billion, while earnings per share rose to $2.78. Qualcomm beat analyst estimates on the top and bottom lines, with consensus estimates forecasting $12.1 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $2.75, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

    However, the outlook for the fiscal second quarter dimmed as a supply crunch in memory chips weighs on margins and the smartphone market.

    Second quarter revenue is expected in the range of $10.2 billion to $11 billion (analysts were looking for $11 billion at the midpoint). Adjusted diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $2.45 to $2.65 (the Street was hoping for $2.87).

    “While our near-term handsets outlook is impacted by industry-wide memory supply constraints, we are encouraged by end-consumer demand for premium and high tier smartphones, and remain on track to achieve our fiscal 2029 revenue goals,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said in the earnings release.

  • Computer makers debate turning to Chinese chip makers to combat supply deficit

    Reuters reports:

    Read more here.

  • Gold returns to over $5,000 after record fall

    Bloomberg reports:

    Read more here.