New York, Jan 30, 2026, 06:19 EST — Premarket
U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday after President Donald Trump said he had firmed up his choice to lead the Federal Reserve, with reports pointing to former Fed governor Kevin Warsh. At 04:51 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-mini futures — contracts that track the index — were down 1.04%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis fell 1.31% and Dow E-minis slid 0.93%; the Russell 2000 futures dropped 1.63%. “His experience and past attitude imply he’s likely to hold the line if sharp inflationary pressures return,” said Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, as the CBOE volatility index rose to 18.85. (Reuters)
The Fed chair suspense lands with the market heading into a dense week of results, including Alphabet and Amazon, and a Feb. 6 U.S. jobs report that traders are treating as a stress test after the central bank paused its rate-cutting cycle. “For those companies where expectations have become very, very lofty, the onus is going to be on them to deliver,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors, warning that even solid growth can still draw punishment if it misses what’s priced in. (Reuters)
Thursday’s cash session showed how thin the ice is. The Dow ended up 0.11% at 49,071.56, but the S&P 500 slipped 0.13% to 6,969.01 and the Nasdaq fell 0.72% to 23,685.12 as Microsoft’s 10% slide pulled on software names. “There are all sorts of storm clouds in the background,” said John Praveen, managing director and co-CIO at Paleo Leon. (Reuters)
Microsoft’s stumble has been about more than one quarter’s cloud number. The company said it spent a record amount on artificial intelligence in the latest quarter, with capital spending of $37.5 billion, while Azure revenue grew 39%, just above Visible Alpha’s consensus estimate; shares fell 6.5% in after-hours after the results. “One big obvious issue is that revenues are up 17% and the cost of revenues are up 19%,” said Eric Clark, portfolio manager of the LOGO ETF. (Reuters)
Apple offered a different tone late Thursday, forecasting fiscal second-quarter revenue growth of 13% to 16% as iPhone demand rebounded in Asia, while warning about supply constraints and rising memory costs. “We’re currently constrained… it’s difficult to predict when supply and demand will balance,” CEO Tim Cook told analysts, and eMarketer analyst Jacob Bourne said the memory-chip squeeze could pressure hardware margins and raise the stakes for services momentum. (Reuters)
Beyond mega-cap tech, traders also had a stack of premarket reports to digest. Nasdaq.com listed Exxon Mobil, Chevron, American Express, Verizon, Regeneron and Charter Communications among companies expected to report before Friday’s open. (Nasdaq)
The morning’s other big marker is inflation at the factory gate. The U.S. Labor Department is due to publish the December Producer Price Index at 8:30 a.m. ET; PPI is a measure of prices charged by producers and can feed into expectations for consumer inflation and interest rates. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Cross-asset trading has already started to reflect the nerves around Fed leadership and liquidity. Bitcoin slid to a two-month low, with strategist Damien Boey at Wilson Asset Management saying talk of shrinking the Fed’s balance sheet can “pull the rug out” from under trades built around abundant liquidity. (Reuters)
But there are two ways this turns. A cooler inflation read or a Fed chair pick that investors view as predictable could steady rates and take some heat out of the selloff. A hotter PPI, a surprise nomination, or another round of earnings disappointments could do the opposite, hitting small-caps and rate-sensitive names first.
After Friday’s data and the Fed chair announcement, the next hard dates are already fixed: the Employment Situation report for January is scheduled for Feb. 6 at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by the January Consumer Price Index on Feb. 11 at 8:30 a.m. ET. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
