New York, Jan 20, 2026, 07:52 EST — Premarket.
Microsoft shares rose 0.7% to $459.86 in premarket trading on Tuesday, after the prior close at $456.81. The company has a market value of about $3.85 trillion.
The stock’s early lift comes into a risk-off open for U.S. equities, after President Donald Trump renewed tariff threats against several European countries in a dispute tied to Greenland. In early moves, Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were down about 1.5%, 1.6% and 2%, while the CBOE Volatility Index — known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — hit a two-month high, and gold touched record highs. “Investors will be hoping for some sort of de-escalation deal on Greenland,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. (Reuters)
The jitters showed up in Europe first, where U.S. mega-cap tech listings slid on Monday while Wall Street was shut for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Microsoft shares listed in Frankfurt fell 2.2%, alongside a 2.4% drop in Alphabet and a 2.2% slide in Nvidia. (Reuters)
On the company front, Microsoft has been cleaning up after a Windows 11 security update that triggered complaints from some enterprise users. It issued an emergency out-of-band fix after reports that some systems could not shut down properly and some Remote Desktop logins failed. (The Verge)
Microsoft’s gaming business also drew fresh attention, with plans to broaden cloud streaming. The company is preparing public tests of free, ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming that would limit sessions to an hour and cap monthly free playtime, the Verge reported. (The Verge)
Investors get a bigger checkpoint next week: Microsoft will publish fiscal second-quarter results after the close on Jan. 28 and host a webcast at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time, the company said. (Source)
Until then, the stock is trading with the tape. When policy risk drives Nasdaq futures, Microsoft tends to move with the group — even when the headlines have little to do with software.
The risk is that Washington’s tariff push becomes more than a weekend headline. A prolonged standoff could keep volatility high and make corporate customers more cautious on big software and cloud commitments, at least at the margin.
Traders are watching for any softening in the Greenland rhetoric and how European leaders respond. A calmer tone could bring buyers back into mega-cap tech quickly; another escalation would likely keep pressure on the group.
Microsoft’s next real catalyst is Jan. 28, when it reports and takes questions live. Between now and then, the stock is likely to take its cues from geopolitics as much as product news.
