Stocks jump higher ahead of this week’s Big Tech earnings

The S&P 500 is back within striking distance of its all-time high.

Your Evening Briefing January 26, 2026 Stocks jump higher ahead of this week's Big Tech earnings The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 climbed higher, led by tech, as investors await earnings from Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla on Wednesday, and Apple on Thursday. The Russell 2000 dropped. Investors piled into gold, which soared past $5,000 per ounce for the first time ever as fears of a government shutdown loom. Stocks that moved higher: CoreWeave soared after Nvidia invested a further $2 billion into the company. This "expanded relationship" between the two parties is intended to help CoreWeave build more than 5 gigawatts of AI factories by 2030. GameStop surged after "The Big Short" investor Michael Burry said he's been buying the stock. USA Rare Earth signed a nonbinding letter of intent with the US government for $1.6 billion in federal funding, sending shares skyward. Critical minerals stock Trilogy Metals also rose. Zoom surged after Baird says its 2023 investment in Anthropic could be worth $2 billion to $4 billion. Stocks that moved lower: Revolution Medicines sank after the Wall Street Journal reported that Merck is no longer in talks to buy the company. Micron dipped on a report that Samsung is taking the early lead in HBM4 supply. Booz Allen Hamilton sank after the US Treasury Department canceled all contracts with the consulting firm over tax information about President Donald Trump and thousands of the country's richest people leaking to media outlets between 2018 and 2020. What analysts expect from Tesla's Q4 2025 earnings Tesla reports earnings after the bell Wednesday. Read more. Europe wants to break up with US tech. Here's how it plans on doing that. Seeking to reduce its dependency on US tech, the EU is working to build out its own "EuroStack." Recent tensions between the US and EU have only made this effort more urgent. Read more. 12% of American workers use artificial intelligence in their roles every day As of Q4 2025, the share of workers who say they AI in their roles every day has risen to 12% across the board, up from 4% in the second quarter of 2023. That figure varies quite wildly in certain industries, though, with almost a third of tech workers reporting daily usage, compared to just 8% of government and public policy employees and community and social services workers who say the same. Goldman Sachs: Megacap tech stocks' relative valuations are near their 2022 lows With Microsoft and Meta jump-starting the megacap tech reporting period this Wednesday, Goldman Sachs equity derivatives and flows specialist Cullen Morgan commented on a relative rarity for the cohort of behemoths: they're not really that expensively priced.  Extreme optimism on global growth is a bad omen for cyclically sensitive trades That's historically been not great news for cyclical trades. Fears grow that bitcoin is entering a bear market "While a new all-time high this year still isn't out of the question, the next 30 days will be crucial in determining whether a bear market is already here." Bloomberg: Apple's updated Siri to arrive in February, chatbot Siri this summer The smarter, AI-powered Siri that Apple previewed back in June 2024 — capable of using personal data and on-screen context to complete tasks — is finally set to arrive in the second half of February. More Americans are trying "No Spend January" as savings rate hits three-year low Google searches for the spending freeze hit a new high, as nearly half of Americans say life feels "really expensive." Bolstered bookseller Barnes & Noble is planning a major expansion and potential IPO One of the hottest IPOs of the year could be a century-old bookstore that Amazon almost killed. Morgan Stanley jacks up its Sandisk price target "We are again considerably raising numbers on NAND pricing strength," the analysts wrote. Avalanche joins class of cryptocurrencies with at least one ETF Investment management company VanEck on Monday introduced the first exchange-traded fund offering spot exposure to AVAX, the native token for the Avalanche blockchain and the latest cryptocurrency with an ETF.  Was this email forwarded to you? Don't miss out on future stories — subscribe to The Wrap and get your daily dose of financial news straight to your inbox.  Craving more insights in your inbox? Subscribe to Chartr and Snacks for quality reads. We care what you think! If you have any feedback or comments, feel free to reply and let us know your thoughts!  Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more Sherwood Terms and Conditions Our Editorial Standards Contact Us Advertise With Us Unsubscribe Privacy Policy SHERWOOD MEDIA, LLC, 85 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025