S&P 500 Slips, Microsoft a Market "Weight"
The S&P 500 weakened in trading on Thursday (January 29th), dragged down by strong pressure from Microsoft shares after the tech giant released its latest results and the market digested the Fed's interest rate policy direction. The benchmark index fell slightly by around 0.1%, while the Nasdaq fell further by around 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to remain in the green zone with a slight gain of around 0.1%. Meanwhile, the crypto market also faltered—Bitcoin plunged nearly 6% and hit its lowest level in almost two months.
The greatest pressure came from Microsoft, which plunged by around 10%. Investors responded to reports that cloud business growth slowed in the second quarter of the fiscal year, coupled with projections for operating margins in the following quarter that were considered less than impressive. This combination prompted market participants to quickly reduce exposure to large technology stocks.
The selling wave spread to the software sector. New concerns emerged that AI trends could change the software business landscape faster than expected, triggering repricing in many issuers. ServiceNow fell around 11% despite its profits and revenue beating estimates. Oracle fell about 2%, and Salesforce fell further, down about 6%—signaling that the market is looking beyond quarterly numbers to the future growth narrative.
The most visible blow was seen in the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV). This ETF fell about 5% in one day and officially entered bearish territory, now about 22% below its recent peak. The sharp decline also put IGV on track for its worst daily decline since the tariff-related market turmoil in April.
Source: Newsmaker.id
