New York, January 21, 2026, 16:44 EST — After-hours
- Alphabet Class C (GOOG) climbed 1.9% in after-hours trading, helping steady the megacap tech sector.
- Investors reacted after the immediate U.S. tariff threat linked to Greenland talks eased.
- Attention turns to trade news and Alphabet’s earnings report set for Feb. 4.
Alphabet Inc’s Class C shares (GOOG) climbed 1.9% to $328.38 in after-hours trading Wednesday, after moving between $318.60 and $332.73 during the session. Nvidia, the chipmaker, gained roughly 3%, and Meta Platforms rose 1.5% in late trading. Meanwhile, Microsoft slipped 2.3%. The Invesco QQQ ETF, tracking the Nasdaq 100, jumped 1.3%.
Alphabet’s rebound carries weight well beyond its stock price. As one of the largest players in the market, moves in this megacap tech giant continue to influence index flows and shape risk appetite.
Wednesday’s shift follows a swift U.S. equities reversal, as traders flipped between risk-on and risk-off within hours. After-hours trading — past the 4 p.m. ET close — tends to amplify these moves due to thinner liquidity.
Wall Street climbed after U.S. President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that a framework deal on Greenland has been reached and tariffs planned for Feb. 1 won’t be implemented. The Dow jumped 1.21%, the S&P 500 added 1.16%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.18%. Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private wealth at Glenmede, highlighted the bigger question: “whether we all start imposing tariffs on each other.” 1
Matthew Smart, director of financial planning and portfolio analysis at WWM Investments, said markets rallied as “uncertainty just got priced out.” Art Hogan, strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management, added that investors now demand a “constant flow of fundamental good news” from earnings, rather than relying on policy headlines. 2
The Dow had dropped 1.76% the day before, with the S&P 500 down 2.06% and the Nasdaq sliding 2.39%. Reuters called it the biggest single-day drop in three months, sparked by renewed worries over tariffs. Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group, said he’d be “surprised if there was a 3% to 5% drop this week.” 3
Europe isn’t budging yet. The European Parliament halted progress on the EU-U.S. trade pact, citing concerns over Greenland and tariff threats. It also delayed committee votes scheduled for Jan. 26-27. Bernd Lange, chair of the trade committee, said the deal is “on hold until further notice.” 4
Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet-linked firm, now aims to kick off its first clinical trials “by the end of 2026,” founder and CEO Demis Hassabis announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos. This marks a delay from his statement last year, when he projected trials would start by the end of 2025. 5
Alphabet stock remains hostage to the broader macro forces. Should tariff chatter flare up or bond yields spike once more, those late-day dip buyers might disappear fast, wiping out the rebound just as quickly.
Alphabet’s next key event is on Feb. 4, when it will release its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results and hold a conference call at 4:30 p.m. ET. Investors will be focused on updates about advertising revenue, Google Cloud’s performance, and any comments on AI infrastructure spending. 6
