DOW JONES–The US stock exchanges are again showing signs of losses at the opening on Thursday. The future on the S&P 500 is reduced by 0.6 percent. The Nasdaq future loses 0.9 percent. This means that the taxes from the previous day are likely to continue. Because the uncertainty regarding the software industry continues. Shares in the sector had been sold off in recent days after the AI company Anthropic presented an additional model for its chatbot Claude, which can also take on legal tasks. The market sees this as endangering the business model of software-as-a-service providers.
In addition, the interest rate decisions of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) were pending before the starting bell. Both confirmed the key interest rate as expected. The BoE cut its growth and inflation forecasts but signaled a further cut if signs suggest wage growth is slowing to a pace that would help contain prices. There is now particular excitement about the press conference with the ECB President Christine Lagarde waited.
Initial jobless claims from the previous week were published in US economic data. Compared to the previous week, these rose by 22,000 to 231,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. Economists had expected an increase to 212,000. The day before, the ADP labor market report for the private sector had already fallen short of the forecast. After the starting bell there will be data on the vacancies. The publication of the official labor market report for January, which was actually planned for Friday, was initially canceled due to the budget dispute, but will now be rescheduled for Wednesday next week.
On the corporate side, Google parent Alphabet exceeded market expectations with its fourth quarter figures. However, investors are critical of the company’s investment plans. This year it wants to invest 175 to 185 billion dollars, including in the expansion of high-end data centers and AI chips. That would be about twice as much as last year and significantly more than analysts had expected. The stock fell 3.9 percent in premarket trading.
Investors are now eagerly awaiting Amazon’s numbers after trading closes on Thursday. AI is also a central part of the corporate strategy for the e-commerce giant.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm shares collapsed by 9.3 percent. Although the chip manufacturer performed better than expected in the first quarter, its sales forecast for the current quarter missed consensus expectations.
Poor fall by 3.1 percent. The software company also presented strong figures, but gave a disappointing outlook. At Snap (+1.7%), investors are not bothered by the below-consensus sales forecast for the current quarter after the Snapchat operator reported fourth-quarter sales growth of 10 percent.
Oil company Conocophillips’ profit fell in the fourth quarter due to lower prices, which was only slightly offset by higher production. The share loses 1.5 percent.
On the foreign exchange market, the dollar index rose by 0.1 percent. The greenback is being supported by words of praise from US President Donald Trump for talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, it is said. US bond prices are somewhat firmer. The ten-year yield drops 4 basis points to 4.24 percent.
Meanwhile, the slightly stronger dollar is depressing raw material prices. The barrel of US WTI crude oil fell in price by 2.1 percent. The troy ounce of gold is reduced by 1.8 percent.
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FOREX last +/- % 0:00 Wed, 5:59 PM % YTD
EUR/USD 1.1788 -0.2% 1.1807 1.1802 +0.6%
EUR/JPY 184.88 -0.2% 185.18 184.85 -0.1%
EUR/CHF 0.9174 +0.0% 0.9171 0.9168 -1.5%
EUR/GBP 0.8651 +0.0% 0.8648 0.8642 -1.0%
USD/JPY 156.84 +0.0% 156.83 156.62 -0.7%
GBP/USD 1.3626 -0.2% 1.3652 1.3657 +1.7%
USD/CNY 6.9590 +0.0% 6.9590 6.9593 -1.0%
USD/CNH 6.9437 +0.0% 6.9416 6.9416 -0.6%
AUS/USD 0.6968 -0.4% 0.6998 0.6993 +5.3%
Bitcoin/USD 70,684.70 -2.3% 72,362.70 73,455.85 -11.1%
CRUDE OIL most recently VT-Settlem. +/-% +/- USD% YTD
WTI/Nymex 63.80 65.14 -2.1% -1.34 +10.3%
Brent/ICE 68.03 69.46 -2.1% -1.43 +10.9%
METALS last day previous +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold 4,873.32 4,964.20 -1.8% -90.88 +14.5%
Silver 77.05 88.37 -12.8% -11.33 +19.4%
Platinum 1,768.07 1,896.97 -6.8% -128.90 +7.5%
Copper 5.80 5.85 -0.9% -0.05 +5.5%
YTD based on the previous day’s closing level
(Information provided without guarantee)
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 05, 2026 08:47 ET (13:47 GMT)
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