US stocks turned lower on Thursday in an apparently fruitless search for a reprieve from a building tech sell-off as investors awaited Amazon earnings, assessed Alphabet's big AI spending plans, and digested jobs data that signaled fresh weakness in the labor market.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) moved roughly 0.9% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) shed 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which includes fewer tech names, edged about 0.5% 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 to established software players — a risk that had been overlooked by investors focused on the fallout from massive AI spending until recently.

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 over 5% 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) 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.

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.

Elsewhere, 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.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) also 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.

At the market open, US stocks plunged for a third day as a broad sell-off in tech names continued.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led the way lower, sinking 1.3%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) shed 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which includes fewer tech stocks, fell 0.5%.

US weekly applications for unemployment benefits increased by more than expected last week, as snowstorms across much of the country may have led more people to file for assistance.

Jobless claims for the week ending Jan. 31 increased by 22,000 to 231,000 claims, exceeding economists' forecasts, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the total number of people receiving state unemployment benefits, increased to 1.84 million.

Distortions from winter weather notwithstanding, the number of Americans filing for jobless benefits suggests the labor market remains broadly stable if not cooling gradually.

Though in a sign of cracks appearing in the \\"low hire, low fire\\" trend that has characterized the labor market for over a year, layoffs jumped in January to their highest level for that month in 17 years, according to Challenger data (scroll down for more on this).

Yahoo Finance's Emma Ockerman reports:

Layoff announcements ballooned in January, hitting the highest level for the month since 2009, according to a Thursday report from the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

\\"Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January,\\" Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement. \\"It means most of these plans were set at the end of 2025, signaling employers are less-than-optimistic about the outlook for 2026.\\"

Indeed, companies' hiring plans, at 5,306 in January, were the lowest for the month since Challenger began logging hiring plans in 2009.

Meanwhile, Challenger tracked 108,435 layoff announcements from US firms in January, more than double the 49,795 cuts announced the same month last year. It was the highest January total since 2009, when 241,749 layoff plans were reported.

Read more here.

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.

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.

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:

The company reported second-quarter earnings per share of $0.89, $0.06 better than the analyst estimate of $0.83 and up 43% year-on-year. Revenue for the quarter came in at $4.23 billion, up 6% year-on-year and above the consensus estimate of $4.22 billion.

Despite raising its full-year outlook, Estée Lauder warned that tariff-related headwinds would impact fiscal 2026 profitability by approximately $100 million, mostly in the second half. The company expects these tariffs to affect imports from various countries, including a 39% rate on Swiss imports and a 35% rate on Canadian imports to the U.S.

Read more here.

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.

From Bloomberg:

There have been many AI-driven selloffs in the three years since ChatGPT burst into the mainstream. Nothing, though, quite rivals the rout rippling through stock and credit markets this week.

For one, there’s the sheer speed and breadth of it. In the span of two days, hundreds of billions of dollars were wiped off the value of stocks, bonds and loans of companies big and small across Silicon Valley. Software stocks were at the epicenter, plunging so much that the value of those tracked in an iShares ETF has now dropped almost $1 trillion over the past seven days.

For another, this drubbing, unlike many previous ones, was triggered not by fears of a bubble but rather concern that AI is on the verge of supplanting the business models of a wide swathe of companies that doomsayers have long predicted were at risk.

“I don’t think it is an overreaction,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at Jonestrading. “For two years, we have been talking about how AI is going to change the world and that it is a multi-generational technology. In the past few weeks, we have seen signs of it in practice.”

The spark was innocuous on its face: AI startup Anthropic PBC (ANTH.PVT) released a new tool for legal work, like reviewing contracts. On its own, the product isn’t seen as a game-changer — yet. But coming after a year in which Anthropic’s coding tools helped transform software development — part of a broader wave of AI innovation — the four-paragraph launch announcement was taken extremely seriously.

“While today it’s legal tech, tomorrow it might be sales or marketing or finance,” wrote Jackson Ader, an analyst at KeyBanc.

Read more here.

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.

A post shared by Yahoo Finance (@yahoofinance)

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

In a heated back-and-forth during a House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, Bessent was asked if the US Treasury had the authority to buy bitcoin or other cryptos.

\\"I do not have the authority to do that, and as chair of FSOC, I do not have that authority,\\" Bessent stated.

Bessent's comments pushed bitcoin lower on Wednesday, extending a slump from earlier in the session.

... The decline was also fueled by the broader selling pressure in markets and a warning from notable investor Michael Burry that a sustained decline in bitcoin's price could \\"set in motion a death spiral leading to massive value destruction.\\"

Read more here.

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:

The Snapchat-parent said total active advertisers on ‌the platform rose 28% in the fourth quarter, underscoring strength in direct response ads and growth in new ad ‌formats such as Sponsored Snaps and Promoted Places.

Revenue rose 10% from a year earlier to $1.72 billion in the quarter ended December ​31, exceeding analysts' average estimate of $1.70 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It expects first-quarter ‌revenue to be between $1.50 billion and $1.53 billion, slightly below estimates of $1.55 billion.

Read more here.

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.

From Reuters:

Shares of Arm Holdings fell on Wednesday as its licensing revenues slightly missed Wall Street ​estimates, despite a push by the company to boost the segment with ‌new chip technology offerings.

Shares were down 6% in premarket trading on Thursday after Arm reported results. It also forecast fourth-quarter revenue ‌above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, driven by demand for its energy-efficient chip designs used in artificial intelligence applications from data centers to smartphones.

For Arm's fiscal third quarter, licensing revenue, which includes upfront fees for access to its technology, stood at $505 ‍million, slightly below estimates of $519.9 million, according to FactSet. The results came even as Arm pushes customers to adopt the latest version of its chip technology, which comes with higher licensing costs.

The ​company projected revenue of $1.47 billion for the fourth quarter, compared with analysts' average ‌estimate of $1.44 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Read more here.

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.

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 (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.

Reuters reports:

PC makers HP (HPQ), Dell (DELL), Acer (2353.TW) and Asus (7801.TWO) are considering sourcing memory chips from Chinese ​chipmakers for the first time amid a global ‌supply crunch that is threatening product launches and pushing up costs across ‌the tech industry, Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. HP, Dell, Acer and Asus did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

This comes at ⁠a time when global ‌electronics supply chains are grappling with an acute shortage of memory chips - an essential fixture ‍across devices from smartphones to data centers.

HP has started qualifying products from Chinese memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to expand supply alternatives, ​Nikkei Asia said citing people familiar with the matter.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Gold (GC=F) rose, pushing back above $5,000 an ounce, as dip buyers continued to snap up bullion after a historic plunge from an all-time high.

Spot gold climbed as much as 1.2% in early trading, having clawed back some losses over the previous two sessions following an abrupt collapse. At Wednesday’s close, the metal was down 11% from an all-time high hit on Jan. 29 but was still up 15% for the year. Silver also advanced, crossing $90 an ounce.

Precious metals soared last month in a rally underpinned by speculative momentum, geopolitical upheaval and concerns about the Federal Reserve’s independence. The surge came to a sudden halt at the end of last week, with silver seeing its biggest ever daily drop on Friday and gold plunging the most since 2013.

Read more here.