S&P 500, Nasdaq close down as Big Tech's soaring AI budgets trigger flight

S&P 500, Nasdaq close down as Big Tech's soaring AI budgets trigger flight

By Sinéad Carew and Pranav Kashyap

Thu January 29, 2026 7:24 AM  

Tech really took a bath today as, at least for today, investors decided the AI honeymoon was over given a new pessimism over the promise of huge AI expenditures ever turning into profits, especially with Microsoft’s disappointing Q4 report. The losses were far greater earlier in the day than at close with the Dow down almost 400 by 11 a.m., tech going much worse with the Nasdaq losing over 600 in the morning and S&P over 100. 

All this was just added to the existing concerns over the future of rate cuts, Iran, Greenland and now another looming government shutdown. In better news, Meta, IBM, Caterpillar and Lockheed-Martin and Southwest Airlines were among the companies that beat estimates and whose shares rose. And though the day started very badly, a large portion of the losses were recovered by close with the Dow even edging into the black. Volume was way above the 18.8 average, coming in today at 23.36 billion. 

DJ: 49,015.60  +12.19        NAS: 23,857.45  +40.35        S&P: 6,978.03  -0.57              1/28

DJ: 49,071.56  +55.96        NAS: 23,685.12  -172.33       S&P: 6,969.01  -9.02              1/29

Thu 1-29-26 5:10 pm S&P 500, Nasdaq close down as Big Tech's soaring AI budgets trigger flight | Reuters