New York, Jan 15, 2026, 09:32 EST — Regular session
- MSFT dropped roughly 2.4% in early trading Thursday, weighed down by ongoing weakness in tech stocks.
- Switzerland’s competition commission has launched a preliminary investigation into Microsoft’s licensing fees.
- Investors are watching closely for AI-related expenses and fresh content-licensing agreements as Microsoft preps to report on Jan. 28.
Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) shares dropped roughly 2.4% to $459.38 in early New York trading Thursday. The Invesco QQQ, which tracks the Nasdaq 100, slid about 1%, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF dipped around 0.5%. Switzerland’s competition commission revealed it had launched a preliminary probe into Microsoft’s licensing fees after complaints from businesses and government bodies over steep price hikes. The regulator noted the findings could lead to a formal investigation. Microsoft said it would cooperate.
The decline arrives amid a shift away from big tech early in earnings season. Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, noted, “Investors are looking to rotate out of expensive megacaps and into value and more defensive names.” Reuters
Microsoft faces awkward timing. Pricing power and regulatory scrutiny carry extra weight as the market wrestles with the true cost of AI-driven growth — in capital spending, energy use, and political fallout — and what returns it ultimately delivers.
On Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled a plan aimed at curbing the strain its U.S. data centers place on power prices and water resources. The company committed to paying utility rates high enough to fully cover its own electricity consumption and promised to release regional water-use data. “It’s both unfair and politically unrealistic for our industry to ask the public to shoulder added electricity costs for AI,” Vice Chair and President Brad Smith said. President Donald Trump weighed in on social media, as reported by Reuters, insisting that data center builders must “pay their own way.” Reuters
On Thursday, Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, announced deals with Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon as it pushes tech giants to pay for data used to train AI models. The nonprofit says extensive scraping of Wikipedia’s free content has driven up server costs. “Wikipedia is a critical component of these tech companies’ work that they need to figure out how to support financially,” Lane Becker, president of Wikimedia Enterprise, told Reuters. Reuters
Reuters reported that Microsoft has committed to purchasing a record 2.85 million soil carbon credits from Indigo Carbon over the next 12 years. This move supports Microsoft’s goal to become “carbon negative” by 2030, even as AI-related emissions climb. A source familiar with the deal said Indigo’s credits typically sell for $60 to $80 per metric ton, putting the total value between $171 million and $228 million. These carbon credits represent one ton of emissions avoided or removed, with the soil credits linked to regenerative farming methods designed to boost carbon storage in the soil. Reuters
Indigo, in a separate release, described the deal as its third transaction with Microsoft, following smaller purchases in 2024 and 2025. Meredith Reisfield, Indigo’s senior director for policy, partnerships and impact, highlighted Microsoft’s purchase as evidence of the “transformative power of regenerative agriculture” in advancing watershed health and net-zero targets. Phillip Goodman, Microsoft’s director of carbon removal, said the company was “pleased” with Indigo’s model, emphasizing verified credits and direct payments to growers. PR Newswire
Positioning could be ramping up the sensitivity. A Hazeltree report this week highlighted that hedge funds stayed put on heavily “crowded” long trades — those popular among many funds — in big tech stocks like Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta. Reuters
But the risks stand out. A Swiss probe might escalate into a full-blown antitrust case, and the software pricing debate could quickly ripple across Europe. On another front, limits on data-center power and water could push up operating costs or delay expansions, while carbon-removal credits continue to stir controversy.
Microsoft’s fiscal second-quarter report lands Jan. 28, right after the market close. Investors will zero in on updates about cloud and AI demand, infrastructure budgets, and the rising costs tied to data centers.
