NEW YORK, June 26, 2026, 07:04 EDT
- Microsoft fell 3.46% to finish at $352.83 Thursday, hitting a 52-week low of $349.20 during the session. Premarket data at 5:33 a.m. EDT showed it recovering to $356.30.
- Microsoft lands in both value and growth groups Friday as Russell rebalances, and traders are looking for around $150 billion to move on reconstitution day.
- EU is turning up heat on cloud services, while Italy looks at Microsoft 365 pricing and memory costs are driving Xbox price hikes.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is set to trade at Friday’s U.S. open showing both growth and value traits. It’s a mechanical setup—index funds may buy or sell MSFT regardless of what’s happening with Azure, Copilot, or earnings.
Microsoft was at $356.30 in premarket trading at 5:33 a.m. EDT, up 0.98%. Shares closed at $352.83 on Thursday, down 3.46%. Volume reached 66.36 million, which is 180% of the 65-day average. The session low hit $349.20, matching the 52-week bottom.
Nasdaq will be open for regular trading Friday, with standard hours from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET and premarket trading from 4 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. The exchange’s 2026 holiday schedule shows closures for Juneteenth (June 19) and Independence Day observed (July 3), but not on June 26.
FTSE Russell’s annual reconstitution is bringing a change to index makeup. Microsoft and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will show up in both the Russell 1000 Value and Russell 1000 Growth indexes instead of just Growth, Reuters said. The switches go live after the U.S. close Friday. New weights will trade starting Monday.
“This week’s reconstitution could mean a ‘really massive trade’ on Friday,” said Steven DeSanctis, equity analyst at Jefferies. “The turnover is dramatic,” he said. Melissa Roberts at Stephens said Friday is a “key liquidity day,” with estimates for total reconstitution trades close to $150 billion. Catherine Yoshimoto, director of product management for Russell US Indexes at FTSE Russell, said there are “no major rule changes” in the June reset. Reuters
A former growth favorite is getting picked up by value funds, while growth funds are forced to adjust their positions. On thin tape, that mix can move a stock, especially with funds chasing benchmarks right at the close.
Tech outflows lead as U.S. equity funds see $3.53 billion leave in week to June 24 – LSEG Lipper
Markets could see a more active close than most Fridays. U.S. equity funds posted $3.53 billion in net outflows for the week ended June 24, according to LSEG Lipper data. Tech sector funds lost close to $20 billion in redemptions, after pulling in $21.46 billion the week before.
Microsoft (MSFT) is getting hit for its own reasons too. MarketWatch, citing Dow Jones Market Data, reported the stock is off 21.6% so far in June, on pace for its worst June since 2000. Ishan Majumdar at Baptista Research said investors used to see Microsoft as a free-cash-flow story, but now “are being asked to underwrite a capital-intensity cycle they didn’t sign up for.” Benchmark’s Yi Fu Lee still calls Microsoft one of the “highest quality ways” to get AI exposure, calling the recent slide a buying chance. MarketWatch
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft face stricter EU rules as antitrust regulators moved to label their cloud businesses as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act. Henna Virkkunen, the EU’s tech chief, said cloud services are now “a prerequisite for AI” and noted over half of EU businesses depend on them. Reuters
Italy’s antitrust agency opened a probe into Microsoft on Friday, citing claims the company hiked Microsoft 365 prices and shifted users to pricier plans unless they opted out. Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.
Xbox is hiking hardware prices. Microsoft said it will raise Xbox console prices by $100 for 512 GB models and by $150 for 1 TB models worldwide starting Aug. 1, with the 2 TB model dropped entirely. The company said storage and memory prices are up more than 2.5 times, and could double again by fall 2027.
Global tech stocks are down, with Apple’s latest price hikes adding to inflation fears about tech spending. The macro backdrop isn’t giving the stock much support. Mark Ellis, CIO at Nutshell Asset Management, said the market is watching hyperscalers and “the return on invested capital” from all this spending. Reuters
Jobs data coming next Thursday is now a focus for Microsoft holders as traders link rate bets to tech valuations again. Doug Huber, deputy chief investment officer at Wealth Enhancement, said a strong jobs report may look like a sign the economy is overheating, which isn’t good for stocks.
