Good afternoon.
The S&P 500 kissed 7,000 for the first time yesterday, but that isn’t the real story; it’s the Magnificent 7’s earnings gauntlet.
Today, Microsoft lost $357 billion in market cap (MSFT fell 12%) despite an earnings + revenue beat.
But Meta spiked 10% on a double beat. What was the difference maker?
Oh, and gold blasted past $5,400, copper hit a new all-time high, and the Fed held rates steady. Wild.
In this issue:
The tech stock earnings storm that set markets on fire (good + bad)
One defense stock building the kind of infrastructure no one else is
The Fed held rates, but two governors pushed for cuts
Let's get into it.
This is not financial advice. Always do your own research. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.
In partnership with Critical Infrastructure Technologies Ltd
This Defense Story Is About Infrastructure, Not Weapons
A $1.5 trillion U.S. military budget is driving money into defense stocks, but most investors are focused on weapons and platforms. The real bottleneck is infrastructure. Power, connectivity, and rapid deployment are becoming mission critical, and this layer is only starting to get attention.
📰 Market Headlines
The S&P 500 briefly kissed 7,000 for the first time ever on Wednesday before slipping back to close nearly flat.
The Nasdaq ticked up 0.2%, while the Dow was basically unchanged.
Big Tech earnings rolled in today after the bell:
Microsoft (MSFT) beat on both lines with EPS of $5.16 on revenue of $81.27 billion. Cloud revenue topped $50 billion for the first time. But the stock fell 12% as investors remain jittery about AI spending; Azure revenue specifically wasn’t quite as high as expected, and it was because Microsoft isn’t building data centers fast enough. Investors did not like that.
Meta (META), meanwhile, crushed estimates with EPS of $8.88 on $59.9 billion in revenue because of their AI ad engine (no data center building issues there). AND their revenue guidance for Q1 2026 was $53.5 billion to $56.5, WAY higher than expected. The biggest headline, though: capex guidance of $115 billion to $135 billion for 2026, nearly double last year's $72 billion. Shares jumped as much as 10% after hours.
Apple’s (AAPL) sales rose 16% on “staggering” iPhone demand. Tim Cook’s company posted a double beat as well, exceeding expectations on both earnings and revenue. Apple “now has an active base of 2.5 billion iPhones, Macs and other Apple devices in use, up from 2.35 billion announced in January last year,” according to CNBC. AAPL shares rose 2% on the news.
The Fed held rates steady at 3.50%-3.75% in a 10-2 decision. Governors Chris Waller and Stephen Miran dissented, pushing for a quarter-point cut. Markets are pricing in two rate reductions by year-end.
Powell's job security remains a question mark. The Trump administration recently opened a criminal investigation into the Fed Chair over Senate testimony about headquarters renovations, and President Trump has said he could name Powell's successor any day now. Here was Powell’s rare video response.
Gold blasted past $5,400 per ounce as the dollar slumped to its lowest level since early 2022. President Trump shrugged off the weakness: "No, I think it's great," he said Tuesday when asked if a falling dollar worried him. Gold is now up over 20% year-to-date, with silver surging roughly 50% on strong Chinese demand.
Copper reached a new all-time high of $6.57 per pound today in a rally that’s “unsustainable,” according to StoneX senior metals demand analyst Natalie Scott-Gray (Yahoo Finance). The reason for surging copper demand is largely due to its crucial roles in AI data centers and related pieces of tech and equipment.
UnitedHealth got absolutely crushed, dropping 20% in a single day after CMS proposed a 0.09% Medicare rate increase for 2027. Analysts expected 4% to 6%. With medical inflation running 7% to 10%, a flat rate is effectively a massive budget cut. UnitedHealthcare's CEO called it "profoundly negative" for seniors. CVS and Humana tumbled 14% and 19%, respectively.
JPMorgan and Bank of America announced they'll match the government's $1,000 President Trump account contribution for their US employees. They join BlackRock, Dell, Robinhood, SoFi, and others backing the new tax-advantaged savings accounts for kids born between January 2025 and December 2028. Both banks are still pushing back on President Trump's proposed 10% credit card interest rate cap, with Dimon calling it "an economic disaster" at Davos last week.
🤖 AI/Future/Tech News
ServiceNow signed with Anthropic one week after OpenAI, making Claude the preferred model across workflow products.
Google launched "Auto Browse," a Gemini 3 agent that takes over your browser to complete tasks, available only to AI Pro subscribers.
Snap spun AR glasses into a standalone company, Specs Inc, for a consumer launch later this year with hand tracking and AI translation.
AI security startup Outtake raised $40 million from Iconiq, Satya Nadella, and Bill Ackman, with ARR growing sixfold year-over-year.
Incubeta released two agentic AI tools for marketers, showing +102% CTR and 37% lower cost per lead in tests.
🪙 Crypto
Bitcoin reclaimed $85k as the Fed said it will slow quantitative tightening on April 1, cutting Treasury runoff from $25 billion to $5 billion monthly.
The White House will convene crypto executives on February 2 to revive stalled market-structure legislation after the Senate postponed the CLARITY Act markup.
The Senate Agriculture Committee passed the crypto market structure bill in a 12-11 vote split across party lines. The banking committee is next.
South Dakota reintroduced a Bitcoin reserve bill allowing up to 10% of state revenues in BTC across government-controlled data centers.
Ripple launched Ripple Treasury, enabling cross-border settlements in 3–5 seconds using its RLUSD stablecoin.
Bitcoin miners shut off machines during the winter storm and sold power to grids, earning 150% more than mining. Hashrate plunged 40%.
Compass Mining energized a 10 MW facility in Odessa, Texas, with capacity for 3,000 machines.
🚨 Trending on Reddit
Carvana (CVNA) chatter spiked 320% after a short seller report accused the company of inflating earnings by more than $1B. Discussions focused on potential restatements, delayed filings, and broader concerns about financial health.
Palantir (PLTR) chatter increased 190% as investors positioned ahead of earnings. Bulls anticipated strong revenue growth, while bears warned that elevated expectations could trigger a pullback if results disappoint.
🚚 Market Movers
Amazon cut 16,000 corporate jobs, its largest since 2023, as CEO Andy Jassy said AI will shrink headcount. Shares dipped 1%.
Home Depot axed 800 corporate employees and ordered remaining staff back five days a week starting April 6.
Cyber startup Outtake raised $40 million, led by Iconiq, with OpenAI as a customer and Satya Nadella as an angel.
🎤 What do you think?
Is this a buy the dip opportunity for MSFT or no?
🎤️ What you said last time
🎪 Crowdfunding Showcase
Apex Resource Center Partners helps aspiring race car drivers navigate the path to professional motorsports through elite coaching, team placement, and sponsorship connections, making an otherwise opaque industry more accessible.
With early traction and industry partnerships already in place, Apex is raising on Wefunder to scale its driver development platform and support the next generation of racing talent.
🧠 The Missing (Market) Links
US population growth slowed to 0.5%, the weakest since the pandemic, as international migration dropped from 2.7 million to 1.3 million.
Direct-to-consumer wine shipments collapsed 15%, the worst decline on record. Only bottles above $200 grew.
29% of auto insurance customers switched providers in 2025. Just 51% of high-value customers will definitely renew, a record low.
North America's online advertising is projected to double to $217 billion by 2033, growing 9% annually on video and social dominance.
South Carolina led population growth at 1.5%, while California hemorrhaged residents through domestic migration losses.
Wines under $15 have lost two-thirds of DtC volume since 2020. Napa now holds half of all DtC value at $99.97 per bottle.
📜 Quote of the Day
Time in the market beats timing the market
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Cheers,
Brandon & Blake of Invested Inc
Examples that we provide of share price increases pertaining to a particular Issuer from one referenced date to another represent an arbitrarily chosen time period and are no indication whatsoever of future stock prices for that Issuer and are of no predictive value. Our stock profiles are intended to highlight certain companies for YOUR further investigation; they are NOT stock recommendations or constitute an offer or sale of the referenced securities.
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