US stocks opened Thursday on mixed footing as investors digested the latest megacap tech earnings ahead of Apple's report, while gold (GC=F) and oil (BZ=F) rallied amid fears of US military strikes on Iran.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) picked up roughly 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) moved the other way to shed roughly 0.5%. The blue chip-heavy Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.3% following Wednesday's muted performance.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is trying to again top 7,000 as Meta (META) shares surged over 9% early in the session, thanks to a surprisingly strong quarterly revenue outlook. The first of the "Magnificent Seven" megacaps to report earnings also plans to spend up to $135 billion on its data center build-out this year, a boost to its push to win the AI race.

While that AI ambition was welcomed, Microsoft (MSFT) stock slid over 10% despite its higher-than-anticipated capital spending as investors reacted to a slowdown in quarterly cloud sales growth.

Meanwhile, Tesla (TSLA) flipped to a loss at the open, as a strategy shift from EVs to robots and a quarterly earnings beat came with its first-ever decline in annual revenue. Investors are now gearing up for Apple’s (AAPL) quarterly earnings, due after the closing bell.

The tech moves took focus amid an escalation in US-Iran tensions, stoked by President Trump's warning to Iran that it must agree to a nuclear deal quickly or be hit with military strikes. Crude oil futures climbed to build on Tuesday's four-month high as US ships massed in the region. Gold surged, briefly topping a record $5,500 an ounce, as a declining dollar (DX-Y.NYB) added to the rush for shelter.

Wall Street is also digesting the Federal Reserve's first monetary policy decision of 2026, in which it kept interest rates unchanged. Eyes are on updates on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders, and wholesale inventory figures on Thursday for clues to the economy to feed policy expectations.

Markets are pricing in two quarter-point rate cuts by year-end, per CME FedWatch, but an easing may not come before the end of Jerome Powell's tenure in May. The watch is now on for an announcement from Trump of his pick as the next Fed chair, which he has said will come soon.

Oil prices jumped more than 3% in morning trading on Thursday as investors priced in the risk of potential escalations in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial shipping route Iran largely controls.

Futures on Brent crude (BZ=F), the international pricing benchmark, flirted with $70 a barrel, while those on the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) crude gained to trade above $65.

The gains add to a run-up over the past month that has seen oil pick up roughly 15% as geopolitical risk premiums and cold weather have buoyed prices even as global onshore crude stocks have remained elevated.

\\"We expected Brent below $60/BBL by now and trending towards the low $50 range. Instead, geopolitical risk premium and physical supply losses have created a strong floor,\\" Macquarie Group global energy strategist Vikas Dwivedi wrote in a recent note to clients.

Recent moves by the US military to position near Iran naval vessels and other equipment capable of striking inside the country have kept worries alive around potential disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz. The strait sees roughly 20 million barrels of oil, or a full quarter of global maritime oil trade, cross its waters every day. disruptions would have wide ripple effects on supply and pricing.

On top of the geopolitical risk, US commercial crude inventories in the US for the week ended Jan. 23 decreased by 2.3 million barrels from the previous week, according to data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration. Analysts at Macquarie had expected a growth of 900,000 barrels.

US applications for unemployment benefits decreased modestly to 209,000 for the week ending Jan. 24, data from the Labor Department showed Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected jobless claims to fall to 205,000.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the total number of people receiving benefits, fell by 38,000 to 1.82 million, bringing the four-week moving average of continuing claims lower, to 1.86 million.

The data comes a day after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and Fed Chair Jerome Powell made the case that the labor market had \\"stabilized\\" after a period of gradual cooling.

While job gains have remained low, the unemployment rate has changed little in recent months, Powell said.

Caterpillar (CAT) stock rose 1.5% in premarket trading after its earnings showed it's still a beneficiary of the AI data center build-out, but also that it expects to take another major hit from tariffs in 2026.

The construction and mining equipment maker reported an adjusted profit of $5.16 per share for the quarter, up from $5.14 ⁠per share a ‌year earlier. Revenue rose to $19.1 billion from $16.2 billion. Those figures were above Wall Street's expectations of $4.71 earnings per share and revenue of $17.7 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The results were boosted by sales of power generation equipment to AI data center developers. Sales in Caterpillar's power and energy segment rose 23% year over year to $9.4 billion.

\\"I think what often gets overlooked is that AI is really an industrial story,\\" Gabelli Funds portfolio manager Brian Sponheimer told Yahoo Finance. \\"As this data center rollout has happened, ... it's created structural demand for industrial-grade power solutions, and no company is really as well situated to drive that supply than Caterpillar.\\"

However, Caterpillar is still facing headwinds from higher tariffs. Reuters reported that Caterpillar warned of a $2.6 billion tariff impact in 2026. In the fourth quarter, operating profit fell 9%, largely due to unfavorable manufacturing costs.

Media group Comcast (CMCSA) reported a loss in broadband customers in its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday. The decline missed analysts' estimates and was driven by competitors offering consumers more cost-effective, aggressive offers.

The stock edged higher before the bell on Thursday.

Reuters reports:

Promotional campaigns by ‌high-speed fiber providers and the launch of cheaper fixed-wireless access internet services have deepened competition ‌in the U.S. broadband market - long dominated by the likes of Comcast and Charter Communications.

Comcast on Thursday said it lost 181,000 broadband customers in the quarter, compared with an estimate of 173,780-user decline, according to data compiled ⁠by Factset.

Read more here.

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) stock fell as much as 10% during premarket trading. The casino operator's adjusted earnings fell short of analyst expectations.

Royal Caribbean (RCL) stock rose 6% before the bell on Thursday after the cruise operator's 2026 earnings guidance beat Wall Street estimates.

Whirlpool (WHR) stock sank 10% during premarket hours today after reporting an unexpected decline in sales.

SAP (SAP) stock fell 15% before the bell on Thursday after reporting a cloud backlog and posting disappointing guidance.

The German firm said its cloud preorders reached $25 billion, but it missed analysts' estimates by about 1%. The delay has been blamed on a few \\"mega deals\\" that are taking longer to get up and running.

Reuters reports:

The German group reported fourth-quarter revenue ‍that met market estimates, though its cloud backlog and 2026 cloud revenue forecast ​missed expectations.

\\"SAP needed an all-round ‌acceleration to fight the trough sector sentiment, and with puts and takes in the update we see shares underperforming,\\" said Citi analyst ⁠Balajee Tirupati.

Read more here.

Microsoft (MSFT) shares fell almost 7% before the bell as a solid quarterly earnings beat still left investors disappointed.

Yahoo Finance's Daniel Howley reports:

Microsoft reported its second quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday, beating Wall Street estimates on the top and bottom lines.

Microsoft is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI explosion, thanks to its early investments in ChatGPT developer OpenAI, sending its market capitalization above the $4 trillion mark in July. But it's come down from those highs as investors continue to raise concerns about the AI industry's massive spending.

In Q2, earnings per share (EPS) of $5.16 on revenue of $81.27 billion topped the $3.92 and $80.3 billion Wall Street was anticipating.

Microsoft Cloud revenue came in at $51.5 billion, just ahead of an expected $51.2 billion. The company reported Cloud revenue of $40.9 billion in the same period last year.

Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes, which includes revenue from Microsoft 365 Commercial and Consumer Cloud, hit $34.1 billion. Wall Street was expecting $33.6 billion.

Read more here.

Shares in Meta (META) surged in premarket, up over 7% as investors welcome raised guidance for this year's spending plans amid a Big Tech AI spending spree.

“We are now seeing a major AI acceleration,\\" Mark Zuckerberg stated on Meta's earnings call late Wednesday.

That theme was consistent throughout Meta's earnings call, as the CEO touted new AI models and products that the company is working on.

Zuckerberg said that since the beginning of 2025, Meta has seen a 30% increase in productivity from its engineers due to the adoption of AI coding tools. The power users of those tools have seen their output increase by 80%, Zuckerberg said.

“We’re starting to see agents really work,\\" he added. \\"This will unlock the ability to build completely new products and transform how we work.”

Mark Zuckerberg on $META's Q4 earnings call: \\"We are now seeing a major AI acceleration.\\"

Adding: \\"Our vision is building personal superintelligence.\\" pic.twitter.com/YmUmk6bNEF

— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) January 28, 2026

Read more here. on Meta's earnings beat from Yahoo Finance's Daniel Howley.

International Business Machines (IBM) stock surged 8% in premarket trading on Thursday after growth in the company's software business drove 12% revenue growth for the fourth quarter.

Revenue increased to $19.69 billion, beating forecasts of $19.21 billion, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates. Software revenue was up 14% in the quarter, Consulting revenue increased 3%, while Infrastructure revenue rose 21%.

IBM has focused on its Hybrid Cloud and Red Hat software platforms, which have been primary drivers of the stock's 30% gain over the past year.

Earnings per share came in at $4.52, compared to estimates of $4.32.

Read more from Reuters.

Oil rose for a third day, building on historic highs after President Trump told Iran it would face US military attacks if it failed to agree a nuclear deal.

Brent crude futures (BZ=F), the global benchmark, moved up 2.4% to nearly $69 a barrel, coming off the highest close since September on Wednesday, Meanwhile, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) jumped 2.6% to above $64.

From Bloomberg:

In a social media post on Wednesday, [President] Trump said US ships he ordered to the region were ready to fulfil their mission “with speed and violence, if necessary.”

Trump’s latest threats have injected a risk premium into prices, even as the market faces downward pressure from swelling supply. Traders are paying a premium for bullish call options for the longest stretch in about 14 months to protect against the risk of a new confrontation between the US and Iran.

A US strike could imperil crude flows from the Middle East, a region that accounts for about a third of global supply. Iranian retaliation could also extend to disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage that separates Iran and the Arabian peninsula. Tankers carrying oil and liquefied natural gas transit through the strait to deliver cargoes worldwide.

... Brent could climb past $70 a barrel on the escalating tensions, but “we remain skeptical that the situation deteriorates much more from here,” said Robert Rennie, head of commodity and carbon research at Westpac Banking Corp.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Asian shares mostly fell Thursday as a wait-and-see attitude dominated in regional markets following the Federal Reserve's decision to keep its key interest rate unchanged.

Gains for some technology companies reporting strong earnings failed to lift shares in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 (^N225) lost 0.2% in morning trading to 53,274.71.

Computer chip testing equipment maker Advantest (ATEYY) surged 6.7% after it reported stronger than anticipated earnings. But other tech company shares most fell.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi (^KS11) surged 0.9% to 5,218.81, hitting a fresh record as computer chip maker SK Hynix picked up 2% on a strong earnings report.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi surged 0.9% to 5,218.81, hitting a fresh record as computer chip maker SK Hynix picked up 2% on a strong earnings report.

Reuters reportg Seng (^HSI) added 0.3% to 27,905.24, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.1% to 4,147.15.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 (^AXJO) shed 0.6% to 8,883.30.

In Jakarta, the JSX (BISNIS-27.JK) sank 7.4% after the MSCI, a U.S. provider of global equity, fixed income and real estate indices, warned about market risks in Indonesia.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance's Ines Ferre reports:

Gold (GC=F) futures jumped above $5,500 per ounce on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, while a weaker dollar fueled the debasement trade, pushing investors toward hard assets.

The greenback (DX-Y.NYB) stabilized on Wednesday after sliding to its lowest level since early 2022, as President Trump shrugged off concerns about a weakening currency.

\\"No, I think it’s great,” Trump said in Iowa on Tuesday when asked if he's worried about a declining dollar.

Gold prices have rallied more than 20% year-to-date as the greenback has fallen against other currencies.

\\"Dollar weakness is supercharging the rise in gold ... adding fuel to the fire for the crazy rise in precious metals,\\" said Robin Brooks, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Read more here.