- Alphabet reported mixed earnings.
- Disney said it’s losing streaming subscribers.
- GM lays off Cruise employees.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Moving up and down again
Markets moved higher Tuesday as traders tried to look past President Donald Trump‘s latest tariff shake-ups. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 saw gains thanks to Palantir shares, which rose 24% after a strong earnings report. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite leaped 1.35% for the day, while the S&P 500 rose 0.72%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, gained a more modest 0.3%. But stock futures were lower Wednesday morning after Alphabet and AMD earnings. Follow live market updates.
2. Big (Alpha)bet
Shares of Google parent Alphabet fell 7% in premarket trading Wednesday after the company reported mixed fourth-quarter earnings. The company topped Wall Street’s earnings estimates but fell short of revenue expectations. Alphabet also said it plans to invest $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025, more than Wall Street was expecting, according to FactSet. The spending will come as the tech giant continues to bet big on artificial intelligence and build out its technology.
3. Disney minus
Disney lost Disney+ streaming subscribers during its fiscal first quarter and warned it expects another “modest decline” in subscribers in the second quarter. Despite the drop, the company’s streaming business reported another profitable quarter. The media giant saw revenue gains for its entertainment, sports and experience segments. Disney also reported earnings and revenue that beat expectations.
4. Cruise control
A Cruise vehicle in San Francisco on Feb. 2, 2022.
General Motors is laying off approximately half of the employees who remained at its discontinued Cruise robotaxi business. The automaker announced in December that it would no longer fund Cruise and would bring those operations in-house. After facing problems with the robotaxi business, it instead plans to focus on “personal autonomous vehicles.” The division had about 2,300 employees at the end of last year.
5. D.C. plane crash
Emergency response units work at the crash site of the American Airlines plane on the Potomac River after the plane crashed last night on approach to Reagan National Airport on Jan. 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
The remains of all 67 people who died in a midair collision last week between an American Airlines plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter have been recovered, officials said. All but one of the victims have been identified. Crews will continue to remove the helicopter wreckage from the Potomac River this week. The agency leading the investigation said the air traffic control tower display showed the helicopter flying higher than permitted under regulations, but cautioned that more work needs to be done to determine what caused the collision near Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Sarah Min, Jennifer Elias, Samantha Subin, Sarah Whitten, Michael Wayland, Hayden Field and Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
