Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
S&P 500 futures fell Thursday night after the index posted a second consecutive losing day.
Futures tied to the broad market index were down 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost about 0.3%. Dow futures dropped 139 points, or 0.3%.
President Donald Trump said Thursday night that he would announce his choice to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday morning. Former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh has emerged as a favorite in prediction markets, but BlackRock’s fixed income chief Rick Rieder and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett have also been in contention.
In after-hours trading, Apple shares inched higher after the company beat fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, aided by a significant surge in iPhone sales. Data storage stock Sandisk popped 17% on the back of strong guidance. KLA Corp lost more than 8% after guidance for non-GAAP gross margin in the fiscal third quarter came in light.
In the regular session, the S&P 500 closed 0.1% lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.11%, or nearly 56 points.
A post-earnings plunge for Microsoft weighed on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The stock slid about 10% to notch its worst one-day decline since March 2020. This came after Microsoft reported a slight slowdown in the growth of its Azure cloud division and gave soft guidance on operating margin for the fiscal third quarter. Software stocks tumbled on growing fears that artificial intelligence could threaten software business models.
“This week brought the first wave of major tech earnings, with investors focused on results, guidance, and AI spending as a key market driver … A clear theme is emerging, in our view,” said Angelo Kourkafas, senior global investment strategist at Edward Jones.
“Companies are ramping up AI related infrastructure spending, and markets are rewarding those that can turn these investments into earnings,” he added. “Firms without a clear monetization strategy are facing more scrutiny.”
He added that while the tech sector is still expected to deliver strong profit growth, it’s slowing from earlier quarters as other sectors accelerate. This development supports “what we see as this year’s key theme: a broadening of market leadership,” Kourkafas said.
Week to date, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have each added nearly 0.8%. The 30-stock Dow is down nearly 0.1% on the week.
Investors are also keeping an eye on Washington as the Senate on Thursday failed to clear a procedural vote on a government funding package, putting the federal government at a big risk of a shutdown that could take effect on Saturday at 12:01 a.m. ET.
President Trump says he will announce new Fed Chair pick on Friday
President Donald Trump said he will unveil his choice to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday.
“I’ll be announcing the Fed chair tomorrow morning, Trump said. He spoke Thursday at the premiere for “Melania,” the film about first lady Melania Trump.
Prediction markets are showing former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh as a favorite to helm the central bank, but BlackRock fixed income chief Rick Rieder and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett have also been in contention.
Read more about Trump’s announcement here from CNBC’s Jeff Cox.
—Darla Mercado
Pessimism among individual investors slides in latest AAII survey
Fewer Main Street investors describe themselves as pessimistic about the six-month outlook for stocks, according to the latest weekly survey from the American Association of Individual Investors. More investors say they’re optimistic or neutral about the short-term direction of the market.
Bearish sentiment narrowed to 30.8% in the latest poll from 32.7% in the prior survey, the sixth time in nine weeks that pessimism was below its historical average of 31.0%.
Bullish sentiment increased to 44.4% from 43.2% last week, and was above the long-run historical average of 37.5% for the ninth time in 12 weeks.
Investors have been unusually opinionated about the outlook for stocks for more than 18 months. Neutral sentiment toward stocks held steady, at 24.8% of respondents versus 24.1% the week before — the 80th time in 82 weeks that neutral sentiment was below its historical average of 31.5%.
— Scott Schnipper
Apple, Robinhood, Visa and Sandisk are among the stocks moving in after-hours trading
Check out the companies making headlines in after-hours trading.
- Apple — Shares rose less than 1% after the company posted blowout fiscal first-quarter results, with notably strong revenue from its iPhone 17 models released in September. Apple earned $2.84 per share for the quarter, higher than the $2.67 per share expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG. Revenue came out at $143.76 billion, significantly exceeding analysts’ expectation of $138.48 billion. Overall iPhone revenue surged 23% on an annual basis to $85.27 billion in revenue. Sales in China popped during the quarter, also easing investors’ fears about competition and consumer sentiment in the region.
- Sandisk — The data storage device manufacturer shared solid guidance, leading the stock to pop 11%. Sandisk sees fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings ranging from $12 to $14 per share, versus the FactSet consensus for $5.11 per share. Second-quarter results also beat Wall Street estimates on the top and bottom lines.
- Visa — Shares of the financial giant slipped nearly 2% in extended trading despite strong fiscal first-quarter results. Visa earned $3.17 per share, on an adjusted basis, on revenue of $10.9 billion thanks to a jump in cross-border payments and payments volume. That came out higher than the $3.14 in earnings per share and $10.69 billion estimate from analysts polled by LSEG.
- Western Digital — The digital storage company saw shares rise about 1% in extended trading. Western Digital provided a rosy forecast for the fiscal third quarter, calling for adjusted earnings of about $2.30 a share on revenue of roughly $3.2 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG sought $1.96 per share and $2.96 billion.
Read the full list here.
— Pia Singh
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