By Rian Howlett
Publication Date: 2026-01-29 15:20:00
US stocks sank in mid-morning trading on Thursday on a tech-driven selloff as investors came away from megacap tech earnings fretting about AI spending.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led losses, shedding roughy 2.6% amid an over 10% plunge from Microsoft (MSFT). The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) followed the tech sector down, shedding 1.5% and 0.8%, respectively, following Wednesday’s muted performance.
Microsoft‘s slide deepened Thursday, after its earnings report spooked investors with higher-than-anticipated capital spending and a slowdown in quarterly cloud sales growth.
That took some of the wind out of Meta’s (META) earnings performance. Shares gained over 7% thanks to a surprisingly strong quarterly revenue outlook. And the company said it 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.
Meanwhile, Tesla (TSLA) flipped to a loss, shedding nearly 3% as the…