NEW YORK, Jan 26, 2026, 10:28 (EST) — Market open for regular session.
- GOOG shares climbed in early New York trading, mirroring strength across U.S. stocks.
- New legal developments surfaced against Google and YouTube, intensifying the regulatory pressure on the company.
- Investors shift focus to the Fed’s rate decision and Alphabet’s earnings report on Feb. 4.
Alphabet Inc’s Class C shares (GOOG) climbed 0.9% to $331.28 on Monday. The rise came amid stronger U.S. equities as investors braced for the Federal Reserve’s upcoming decision and a busy week of megacap earnings reports.
Wall Street kicked off with broad gains ahead of earnings from Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Tesla, plus a two-day Fed meeting starting Tuesday. Valuations remain stretched, so investors are zeroing in on company guidance to see if big tech’s AI investments are delivering. 1
Alphabet will report its fourth-quarter and full-year results on Feb. 4, with a conference call set for 4:30 p.m. ET. The stock has little room to avoid the broader sector mood swings before Google unveils its own numbers and guidance. 2
Google has agreed to shell out $68 million to settle a proposed class action alleging that Google Assistant recorded private conversations without users’ consent. According to court documents, the assistant occasionally misfired on wake words like “Hey Google,” a glitch users refer to as “false accepts.” The settlement still awaits a judge’s nod. 3
YouTube, another unit of Alphabet, will join Meta and TikTok in Los Angeles court this week over allegations that their platforms contribute to youth addiction and mental health issues. “This is really a test case,” said Clay Calvert, a media lawyer at the American Enterprise Institute. Plaintiff attorney Matthew Bergman added the firms will face “a level of scrutiny” that goes beyond what congressional hearings typically deliver. 4
Alphabet’s Class C shares don’t have voting rights, unlike its Class A stock, though they typically trade near each other. GOOG kicked off at $328.33, fluctuating between $326.10 and $331.97, valuing Alphabet at about $2.94 trillion.
Next week’s report will focus squarely on Google’s ad engines — Search and YouTube — as marketers continue reallocating budgets toward short-form video and retail media. Insights on how AI is influencing search clicks and ad pricing will carry more weight than slick product demos.
Google Cloud is another key area. The unit competes head-to-head with Microsoft Azure and Amazon’s AWS for enterprise deals, with AI workloads driving higher demand for computing power. But if that growth falters, investors usually lose patience quickly.
Downside risks are straightforward: a tougher Fed stance, disappointing guidance from competitors, or another shift in risk appetite could slam valuations across the sector. Over in Europe, regulators must decide by Feb. 10 whether to approve Alphabet’s $32 billion buyout of cybersecurity firm Wiz. Investors view the deal as a strategic play on cloud security. 5
Markets are set to dissect the Fed’s decision and any clues about future rates before shifting focus to Alphabet’s Feb. 4 earnings. The Wiz ruling drops on Feb. 10, with ongoing privacy and youth-safety lawsuits lingering in the backdrop.
