NEW YORK, Jan 4, 2026, 09:28 ET — Market closed
- Microsoft shares fell 2.21% to $472.94 at Friday’s close, lagging the S&P 500 in the first U.S. session of 2026.
- The drop in a major Nasdaq heavyweight came as chipmakers rallied, while other megacaps such as Apple also slipped.
- Investors’ next tests are the U.S. jobs report on Jan. 9 and CPI on Jan. 13, both key for rate expectations that can sway high-growth tech valuations.
Microsoft Corp shares closed down 2.21% at $472.94 on Friday, the last trading day before U.S. markets shut for the weekend.
The decline matters as Wall Street enters 2026 looking for direction after a three-year run of double-digit gains in major indexes, with megacap tech again setting the tone for the Nasdaq.
Joe Mazzola, head of trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab, told Reuters that “investors might be a little bit more conscious about some of the valuations that they’re paying for some of the AI plays.” Reuters
Friday’s broader tape was mixed: the Dow and S&P 500 ended higher, while the Nasdaq slipped slightly as chip stocks surged and some market heavyweights, including Apple and Microsoft, fell.
Microsoft traded between $470.16 and $484.66 on Friday and ended the session with about 25.6 million shares changing hands, according to Investing.com data.
Treasury yields rose on the day, adding another variable for rate-sensitive growth stocks whose valuations depend heavily on expectations for future earnings.
But the downside risk for Microsoft and other large-cap tech is that rate cuts arrive later than markets expect, keeping borrowing costs — and discount rates used in equity valuations — higher for longer. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Anna Paulson said on Saturday that further cuts “could be some way off” as officials take stock of the economy after last year’s easing campaign. Reuters
The market’s next near-term catalysts are macro. The Labor Department’s December employment report is due Friday, Jan. 9 at 8:30 a.m. ET, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics calendar also shows the December CPI report scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 8:30 a.m. ET.
A Reuters poll cited in Reuters’ week-ahead outlook put expected December job growth at 55,000, a data point investors will use to gauge whether the Fed’s easing cycle can continue without a sharper slowdown.
Beyond next week’s data, the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting runs Jan. 27–28, a date investors are already circling as they recalibrate how far and how fast rates might fall in 2026.
Microsoft itself has not yet posted the date of its next earnings release on its investor relations homepage, which says the next earnings release “will be announced soon.” Microsoft
In the near term, traders will watch whether MSFT holds above Friday’s $470 session low — a level that could act as technical support — with the $485 area near Friday’s high as the next upside test.
When trading resumes Monday, Microsoft’s next drivers are likely to be the same ones that moved it on Friday: shifts in risk appetite across megacap tech and any change in rate expectations after the Jan. 9 jobs report and Jan. 13 CPI release.
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