Briefing.com Summary:
*Questions about NVIDIA’s impending investment in OpenAI have rattled the AI landscape.
*Walt Disney reported better-than-expected results amid reports of CEO succession planning.
The January ISM Manufacturing Index is today’s featured piece of U.S. economic data.
“As goes January, so goes the year.” If that adage holds true to form, then 2026 should be a good year for the stock market.
January was a good month overall, yet there were some blemishes, namely the underperformance of the mega-cap stocks and the financial stocks. Still, their weakness was not a debilitating force for the broader market, which was uplifted by rotational/rebalancing trading action.
The trading month of February isn’t even a day old yet; however, it is running into some early complications tied mostly to some upset among the mega-cap stocks, some volatility in the metals trade, and some risk-off action in Bitcoin pricing.
Currently, the S&P 500 futures are down 20 points and are trading 0.3% below fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are down 127 points and are trading 0.5% below fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up five points and are trading in line with fair value.
There has been some upset in the AI universe, with reports suggesting NVIDIA (NVDA) will be making a large investment in OpenAI, but “nothing like” the $100 billion previously discussed. Separately, Oracle (ORCL) has announced a plan to raise $45-50 billion in gross proceeds during calendar year 2026, using debt and equity, to fund the expansion of its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure capacity.
Residual weakness in most mega-cap stocks has applied most of the pressure to the equity futures market, which is also digesting an otherwise solid earnings report from Walt Disney (DIS) that has been accompanied by reports of CEO succession planning.
Disney kicked off another week of earnings reporting that will be highlighted by Alphabet’s (GOOG/GOOGL) report after the close on Wednesday and Amazon.com’s (AMZN) report after the close on Thursday.
The stock market’s behavior hasn’t always shown it, but by and large the December quarter results have been better than expected. The blended earnings growth rate sits at 11.7%, according to FactSet, versus 8.1% in early January.
In other developments, oil prices have dropped on reports that the U.S. is ready to negotiate with Iran and that OPEC+ voted to leave its production output unchanged in March, the House is gearing up for a vote on Tuesday to get the government funded and reopened, and China’s official January PMI was underwhelming with a reading of 49.3 versus 50.1 previously.
The January ISM Manufacturing Index (Briefing.com consensus: 48.3%; prior 47.9%) is today’s featured piece of U.S. data. It will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Treasuries are quiet ahead of the release. The 2-yr note yield is up one basis point to 3.54%, and the 10-yr note yield is up one basis point to 4.25%.
—
Originally Posted February 2, 2026 – Mega-cap stocks applying some downside pressure
Disclosure: Interactive Brokers Third Party
Information posted on IBKR Campus that is provided by third-parties does NOT constitute a recommendation that you should contract for the services of that third party. Third-party participants who contribute to IBKR Campus are independent of Interactive Brokers and Interactive Brokers does not make any representations or warranties concerning the services offered, their past or future performance, or the accuracy of the information provided by the third party. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
This material is from Briefing.com and is being posted with its permission. The views expressed in this material are solely those of the author and/or Briefing.com and Interactive Brokers is not endorsing or recommending any investment or trading discussed in the material. This material is not and should not be construed as an offer to buy or sell any security. It should not be construed as research or investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security or commodity. This material does not and is not intended to take into account the particular financial conditions, investment objectives or requirements of individual customers. Before acting on this material, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and, as necessary, seek professional advice.
Disclosure: Futures Trading
Futures are not suitable for all investors. The amount you may lose may be greater than your initial investment. Before trading futures, please read the CFTC Risk Disclosure. A copy and additional information are available at the Warnings and Disclosures section of your local Interactive Brokers website.
Join The Conversation
If you have a general question, it may already be covered in our FAQs page. go to: IBKR Ireland FAQs or IBKR U.K. FAQs. If you have an account-specific question or concern, please reach out to Client Services: IBKR Ireland or IBKR U.K..
Visit IBKR U.K. Open an IBKR U.K. Account