NEW YORK, Jan 27, 2026, 10:43 EST — Regular session
Alphabet’s non-voting Class C shares (GOOG) ticked up roughly 1.0% to $336.97 Tuesday morning, following a $333.59 close the day before. The European Commission announced it has launched proceedings under the Digital Markets Act to steer Google on meeting interoperability and search-data sharing requirements. 1
The timing is just before Alphabet’s quarterly earnings, with investors eager to see if hefty AI investments will drive lasting growth. According to Reuters, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon are set to boost AI spending by about 30% this year, pushing total investment past $500 billion and intensifying focus on profit margins and cash flow. “Alphabet has the upper hand in the AI race,” said David Wagner, head of equities at Aptus Capital Advisors. 2
EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said the DMA proceedings aim to ensure Google grants the same access to search data and Android to third-party search engines and AI providers as it does to its own services, including Google Search and Gemini. Clare Kelly, Google’s senior competition counsel, described Android as “open by design” but cautioned that rules shaped by “competitor grievances” risk harming user privacy, security, and innovation. EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera emphasized the objective is a “level playing field,” not one skewed in favor of “the largest few.” 3
Tech stocks climbed in early U.S. trade, led by the Invesco QQQ ETF, which added roughly 0.8%. The S&P 500 ETF nudged up slightly, but the Dow ETF dipped. Microsoft rose around 1.3%, Amazon jumped about 1.5%, and Meta slipped a bit.
Regulatory troubles caught up with Google this week in court. The company agreed to a $68 million settlement over a class action alleging its Google Assistant recorded users after so-called “false accepts” — when it mistakenly heard its wake words — to better target ads, court documents show. The deal was filed in federal court in San Jose, California, and now awaits approval from U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman. Google denied any wrongdoing. 4
The EU process is a specification proceeding — a tool Brussels uses to clarify how a company must comply with DMA rules — not a new antitrust case. Officials in the EU say the process needs to wrap up within six months. 5
Alphabet will report its fourth-quarter results in a call set for Feb. 4 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time, the company’s investor relations calendar shows. 6
Analysts are forecasting Alphabet’s Q4 revenue to exceed $100 billion, according to consensus estimates highlighted by Investors Business Daily. The outlet also noted rising institutional interest in the stock ahead of the earnings release. 7
The build-up to Big Tech earnings has been anything but smooth, with investors cautious that the AI trade might be overhyped for now. According to Investopedia, the “Magnificent 7” kicked off 2026 unevenly, with more focus shifting to their upcoming earnings guidance. 8
Alphabet announced it will release its earnings on Feb. 4 before the conference call and provide a live webcast, with a replay to follow. For GOOG shareholders, that report is the next major catalyst. 9
