The stock market is on track for a mixed opening this morning as stocks look to rebound from yesterday's retreat. 

The technology sector, which was a laggard yesterday, will have to overcome weakness in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 218.50, -23.96, -9.8%) that comes after the company's earnings report. 

Additionally, mega-cap stocks, which weighed heavily on the major averages yesterday, are mostly lower in the premarket ahead of the next batch of mega-cap earnings this week. 

The S&P 500 futures currently trade six points above fair value.

Most equity indices in the Asia-Pacific climbed on Wednesday with South Korea's Kospi (+1.6%) extending its record run. January Services PMI readings from the region were largely better-than-expected, showing accelerating activity. India's trade minister said that the deal with the U.S., which will remove tariffs on most industrial goods imports from the U.S., is nearly finalized. Vietnam's trade minister said that his country is willing to increase purchases of machinery and high-tech products from the U.S.

• In economic data:
  • China's January RatingDog Services PMI 52.3 (expected 52.0; last 52.0)
  • Japan's January Services PMI 53.7 (expected 53.4; last 51.6)
  • Hong Kong's January Manufacturing PMI 52.3 (last 51.9)
  • India's January Services PMI 58.5 (expected 59.3; last 58.0)
  • Australia's January Services PMI 56.3 (expected 56.0; last 51.1)
  • New Zealand's Q4 Employment Change 0.5% qtr/qtr (expected 0.3%; last 0.0%), Q4 Unemployment Rate 5.4% (expected 5.3%; last 5.3%), Q4 Participation Rate 70.5% (expected 70.3%; last 70.3%). Q4 Labor Cost Index 0.4% qtr/qtr (expected 0.5%; last 0.5%); 2.0% yr/yr, as expected (last 2.1%)

---Equity Markets---

• Japan's Nikkei: -0.8%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng: +0.1%
• China's Shanghai Composite: +0.9%
• India's Sensex: +0.1%
• South Korea's Kospi: +1.6%
• Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: +0.6%

Major European indices trade on a mostly higher note while Germany's DAX (-0.1%) has failed to keep pace with losses in Deutsche Bank, Siemens, SAP, and Infineon weighing the market down. Elsewhere, UBS beat quarterly expectations while Credit Agricole reported a drop in profit. The Times Shadow Committee unanimously recommended that the Bank of England keeps its bank rate at 3.75% tomorrow. Similarly, the European Central Bank is also expected to leave its policy unchanged tomorrow.

• In economic data:
  • Eurozone's January Services PMI 51.6 (expected 51.9; last 52.4). Flash January CPI -0.5% m/m (last 0.2%); 1.7% yr/yr, as expected (last 2.3%). January Core CPI 2.2% yr/yr (expected 2.3%; last 2.3%)
  • Germany's January Services PMI 52.4 (expected 53.3; last 52.7)
  • U.K.'s January Services PMI 54.0 (expected 54.3; last 51.4)
  • France's January Services PMI 48.4 (expected 47.9; last 50.1)
  • Italy's January Services PMI 52.9 (expected 51.3; last 51.5). Flash January CPI 0.4% m/m, as expected (last 0.2%); 1.0% yr/yr, as expected (last 1.2%)
  • Spain's January Services PMI 53.5 (expected 56.6; last 57.1)

---Equity Markets---

• STOXX Europe 600: +0.5%
• Germany's DAX: -0.3%
• U.K.'s FTSE 100: +1.4%
• France's CAC 40: +1.0%
• Italy's FTSE MIB: +1.0%
• Spain's IBEX 35: +0.6%

The S&P 500 futures currently trade 10 points above fair value. 

Just released, the ADP Employment Change Index showed Private sector employment increased by 22,000 jobs in January (Briefing.com consensus 43,000) and pay was up 4.5 percent year-over-year according to the January ADP National Employment Report produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. 

The prior month's reading was downwardly revised to 37,000 from 41,000.

Equity futures point to a mixed opening this morning after the major averages took a step back yesterday amid a poor day for tech and mega-cap stocks. 

Software, semiconductors, and other tech names faced a retreat that bled into other growth areas and saw the S&P 500 dip below its 50-day moving average before finding some support, while the Nasdaq Composite closed below its own 50-day moving average. 

Headlines are fairly quiet this morning, though investors are currently receiving another sizable batch of earnings reports. Alphabet (GOOG 344.71, +4.01, +1.2%) reports after the close today, while Amazon (AMZN 239.30, +0.68, -0.3%) reports tomorrow, amid what has been a tough week so far for the mega-caps. 

The market will also receive several economic data releases this morning, including the January ADP Employment Change Report (Briefing.com consensus 43k) at 8:15 a.m. and the January ISM Non-Manufacturing Index (Briefing.com consensus 53.7%) at 10:00 a.m. The MBA Mortgage Applications Index for the week ended January 31 decreased 8.9% from a prior decrease of 8.5%. 

In corporate news:

• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 220.10, -22.01, -9.1%) beat EPS expectations by $0.21, beat revenue expectations, and guided Q1 revenues above consensus. 
• Amgen (AMGN 334.00, -4.59, -1.4%) beat EPS expectations by $0.56, beat revenue expectations, and guided FY26 EPS in line, with revenues in-line. 
• Eli Lilly (LLY 1,088.62, +85.16, +8.5%) beat EPS expectations by $0.63, beat revenue expectations, and guided FY26 EPS above consensus with revenues above consensus. 
• NVIDIA (NVDA 180.63, +0.29, +0.2%) is close to a deal to invest $20 billion in OpenAI, according to Bloomberg. 
• Texas Instruments (TXN 217.58, -7.63, -3.4%) has entered an agreement to acquire Silicon Laboratories (SLAB 206.00, +69.38, +50.78%) for $231 per share in an all-cash transaction. 

Reviewing overnight developments:

Most equity indices in the Asia-Pacific climbed on Wednesday with South Korea's Kospi (+1.6%) extending its record run. Japan's Nikkei: -0.8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng: +0.1%, China's Shanghai Composite: +0.9%, India's Sensex: +0.1%, South Korea's Kospi: +1.6%, Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: +0.6%.

In news:

• January Services PMI readings from the region were largely better-than-expected, showing accelerating activity.
• India's trade minister said that the deal with the U.S., which will remove tariffs on most industrial goods imports from the U.S., is nearly finalized.
• Vietnam's trade minister said that his country is willing to increase purchases of machinery and high-tech products from the U.S.

In economic data:

• China's January RatingDog Services PMI 52.3 (expected 52.0; last 52.0)
• Japan's January Services PMI 53.7 (expected 53.4; last 51.6)
• Hong Kong's January Manufacturing PMI 52.3 (last 51.9)
• India's January Services PMI 58.5 (expected 59.3; last 58.0)
• Australia's January Services PMI 56.3 (expected 56.0; last 51.1)
• New Zealand's Q4 Employment Change 0.5% qtr/qtr (expected 0.3%; last 0.0%), Q4 Unemployment Rate 5.4% (expected 5.3%; last 5.3%), Q4 Participation Rate 70.5% (expected 70.3%; last 70.3%). Q4 Labor Cost Index 0.4% qtr/qtr (expected 0.5%; last 0.5%); 2.0% yr/yr, as expected (last 2.1%)

Major European indices trade on a mostly higher note while Germany's DAX (-0.3%) has failed to keep pace with losses in Deutsche Bank, Siemens, SAP, and Infineon weighing the market down. STOXX Europe 600: +0.4%, Germany's DAX: -0.3%, U.K.'s FTSE 100: +1.4%, France's CAC 40: +0.9%, Italy's FTSE MIB: +0.9%, Spain's IBEX 35: +0.4%.

In news:

• Elsewhere, UBS beat quarterly expectations while Credit Agricole reported a drop in profit.
• The Times Shadow Committee unanimously recommended that the Bank of England keeps its bank rate at 3.75% tomorrow.
• Similarly, the European Central Bank is also expected to leave its policy unchanged tomorrow.

In economic data:

• Eurozone's January Services PMI 51.6 (expected 51.9; last 52.4). Flash January CPI -0.5% m/m (last 0.2%); 1.7% yr/yr, as expected (last 2.3%). January Core CPI 2.2% yr/yr (expected 2.3%; last 2.3%)
• Germany's January Services PMI 52.4 (expected 53.3; last 52.7)
• U.K.'s January Services PMI 54.0 (expected 54.3; last 51.4)
• France's January Services PMI 48.4 (expected 47.9; last 50.1)
• Italy's January Services PMI 52.9 (expected 51.3; last 51.5). Flash January CPI 0.4% m/m, as expected (last 0.2%); 1.0% yr/yr, as expected (last 1.2%)
• Spain's January Services PMI 53.5 (expected 56.6; last 57.1)

[BRIEFING.COM] After a solid start to the week, stocks faced a considerable pullback today. Weakness across mega-cap and tech names saw the Nasdaq Composite (-1.4%) underperform, closing beneath its 50-day moving average of 23,374.58. The S&P 500 (-0.8%) also briefly dipped below its own 50-day moving average (6,871.53) before garnering some support. 

Early in the session, losses were relatively limited to tech names, and the DJIA (-0.3%) actually notched an all-time intraday high. The Russell 2000 (+0.3%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (+0.2%) also traded higher before the market's losses began to widen in both size and scope, though a late-session uptick saw them notch slight gains. 

The information technology sector (-2.2%) managed a modest bump off of session lows but still finished as the worst-performing S&P 500 sector by a considerable margin. 

Leadership was poor, with Microsoft (MSFT 411.21, -12.16, -2.87%) continuing its post-earnings slide and pressuring software stocks. Gartner (IT 160.16, -42.24, -20.87%) was the worst-performing S&P 500 name today, and the iShares GS Software EFT finished 4.6% lower. 

Though software names have had a rough start to the year, the weakness has largely been offset by strength in semiconductor stocks. That was certainly not the case today, with a 2.1% slide in the PHLX Semiconductor Index suggesting some concerns around the broader AI trade. 

NVIDIA (NVDA 180.32, -5.29, -2.85%) was another notable laggard, with the company garnering plenty of headline coverage surrounding its relationship with OpenAI. Reuters reported that OpenAI is exploring alternatives to NVIDIA's chips, causing executives from both companies to downplay the headline throughout the day. 

Palantir Technologies (PLTR 157.88, +10.10, +6.84%) and Teradyne (TER 282.99, +33.46, +13.41%) traded higher after their earnings reports but finished well off their best pre-market levels.

With the AI trade facing a downturn in sentiment, it comes as no surprise that other mega-cap stocks began to lag as well. 

Alphabet (GOOG 340.70, -4.20, -1.22%), Meta Platforms (META 691.70, -14.71, -2.08%), and Amazon (AMZN 238.62, -4.34, -1.79%) all finished with similar losses, sending the communication services (-1.3%) and consumer discretionary (-1.0%) sectors lower. 

The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF finished 2.0% lower, and the market-weighted S&P 500 (-0.8%) underperformed the S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index (-0.2%).

Elsewhere in the consumer discretionary sector, travel-related names such as Expedia Group (EXPE 234.46, -42.21, -15.26%) and Booking Holdings (BKNG 4644.64, -477.61, -9.32%) faced considerable retreats, while homebuilder names outperformed following a Politico report that the House is planning a vote next week on legislation to increase housing supply. 

The health care sector (-1.0%) also faced a sizable loss as Eli Lilly (LLY 1002.98, -41.15, -3.94%) traded lower ahead of its earnings tomorrow morning, while the financial sector (-0.9%) finished with a similar loss as PayPal (PYPL 41.70, -10.63, -20.31%) plummeted after missing earnings estimates. 

Meanwhile, five S&P 500 sectors put together solid performances, though it was not enough to offset weakness elsewhere. 

The energy sector (+3.3%) expanded its lead for the year as oil prices rebounded from yesterday's lows, with crude oil futures settling today's session $0.97 higher (+1.6%) at $63.16 per barrel. 

In a similar fashion, the materials sector (+2.0%) notched a solid gain as gold prices recovered from a sharp retreat, with gold futures settling $282.40 higher (+6%) at $4,935.00 per oz, marking their largest one-day gain since 2008. Ball Corp (BALL 61.77, +5.08, +8.96%) made a nice move higher after topping earnings estimates.

The more defensive consumer staples (+1.7%) and utilities sector (+1.5%) also performed well, garnering some rotational interest amid the weakness in tech and other growth pockets.  PepsiCo (PEP 162.85, +7.65, +4.93%) made a nice move higher after beating earnings expectations, while Walmart (WMT 127.71, +3.65, +2.94%) continues an impressive surge that seats it with a 14.6% year-to-date gain. 

Overall, today's action reflected a clear rotation away from growth and momentum areas toward more defensive and value-oriented sectors, leaving the major averages under broad pressure by the close. With sentiment around AI and mega-cap leadership wobbling, traders appear increasingly cautious as the market heads into another high-profile batch of earnings reports.

There was no economic data of note today, as the December Job Openings and Labor Turnover Report was delayed by the brief government shutdown, which will end after the House narrowly passed a funding bill this afternoon.

U.S. Treasuries finished Tuesday on a flat note after recovering from a slightly lower start. The 2-year note yield finished unchanged at 3.57%, and the 10-year note yield also finished unchanged at 4.27%. 

• Russell 2000: +6.7% YTD
• S&P Mid Cap 400: +5.1% YTD
• DJIA: +2.5% YTD
• S&P 500: +1.1% YTD
• Nasdaq Composite: +0.1% YTD