New York, Jan 29, 2026, 15:52 ET — Regular session
- Nebius shares fell 7.4% to $93.01, after fluctuating between $91.24 and $100.80.
- Traders are balancing Microsoft’s AI-related costs against Meta’s larger capex proposal, which mentioned Nebius as a cloud partner.
- After the bell, all eyes shift to Apple earnings for a fresh glimpse into tech sentiment and AI investment trends.
Nebius Group N.V. shares dropped 7.4% to $93.01 Thursday afternoon, erasing an early rally that had briefly pushed the stock above Wednesday’s close.
The decline hits more than just a single stock. Investors are adjusting their outlook on the “AI buildout” trade following the latest round of Big Tech earnings, favoring spending that drives growth and penalizing it when growth stalls. 1
Tech-focused Nasdaq slipped as selling spilled over into smaller AI-linked stocks. “Microsoft disappointed and there are some genuine concerns that AI investments will eat the software companies’ lunches,” noted John Praveen, managing director and co-CIO at Paleo Leon. 2
Microsoft shares dropped roughly 11% after the company reported a nearly 66% surge in capital expenditure for the December quarter, reaching $37.5 billion. Around two-thirds of that spending was directed toward computing chips. Eric Clark, portfolio manager of the LOGO ETF, noted a key worry: “revenues are up 17% and the cost of revenues are up 19%.” 3
Meta bucked the trend, jumping roughly 10% after raising its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to $115 billion-$135 billion, including investments in data centers, servers, and payments to external cloud providers. CEO Mark Zuckerberg told analysts, “This is going to be a big year for delivering personal superintelligence.” 4
Nebius is now one of the key third-party providers in the space. The firm inked a $3 billion, five-year AI infrastructure contract with Meta and previously landed a $17.4 billion deal with Microsoft. It operates within the “neocloud” model, offering hardware and cloud capacity on a rental basis. 5
On Thursday, the stock kicked off at $98.36, climbed to a peak of $100.80, then dropped sharply to $91.24. Nebius hasn’t issued any updates since January 5, when it announced plans to roll out NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin NVL72 systems in the U.S. and Europe starting in the second half of 2026. 6
Pressure spread beyond just one name. CoreWeave dropped roughly 8.6%, while Nvidia barely budged. “Neocloud” stocks are acting less like reliable growth plays and more like a barometer for risk appetite.
The trade could still flip. Specialist AI infrastructure companies seem vulnerable if contract terms weaken or demand drops, given their heavy equipment costs and dependence on a small group of wealthy clients. 7
Rates also play a role here. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged at 3.50%-3.75% and indicated it might pause before cutting again—an approach that tends to pressure long-duration growth stocks when sentiment sours. 8
Apple is set to report after Thursday’s close, with investors eager for insights on its AI strategy and the pricing of critical parts such as memory chips — factors that have been swinging the tech sector this week. 9
