All Hail Meta, Apple Blockbuster Earnings For The S&P 500’s Gain This Week 

Hardika Singh

A dovish stance from the Federal Reserve and blockbuster earnings from Meta Platforms and Apple helped the S&P 500 inch higher this week, reversing some of the declines seen over the past two consecutive weeks. 

The index added 0.3% this week to 6,939.03 points, bringing its 2026 annual advance to 1.4%.

Responsible for the broad-based index’s advance were Big Tech stocks, which made a much-welcomed move after their monthslong sideways trading. Their previous lack of participation had raised many questions about whether the broadening rally in the stock market could continue to hit records. The laggards of last year, like the energy, materials, and industrials sectors, are still among the top performers this year, up 14%, 8.6%, and 6.6%, respectively.

“Technology was largely out of favor from July of last year until November, and then it really started to rip back and lately we’ve seen exactly the opposite where this big broad-based rally has given way to tech just in the last week,” said Fundstrat Head of Technical Strategy Mark Newton during our weekly huddle. 

Earnings releases from four of the Magnificent Seven this week were in the spotlight, as they’re the face of the AI revolution. Microsoft, Meta, and Tesla reported on Wednesday, followed by Apple on Thursday. All four of them beat earnings expectations.

All eyes were also on the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Wednesday. In a widely expected move, the board voted to keep rates steady between 3.5% and 3.75%. Head of Research Tom Lee said in his Macro Minute videos that Chair Jerome Powell has not been contemplating hikes, and the outgoing Fed Chair reiterated this point at the latest meeting. In Lee’s view, this strongly suggests that the pace of cuts is now dependent on the evolution of the jobs market, which in turn arguably means there’s a put on the economy and a put on stocks.

Lee said that “the downside risk is less and the upside risk is lower.”

“I think on balance it’s still dovish,” he added. 

The president also unveiled Kevin Warsh as the pick for the next Fed chair on Friday. All three major indexes declined on Friday. 

Warsh has served on the board before and has criticized the central bank publicly. He’s known for being an inflation hawk, making him an interesting choice for the president, given his loud demands for lower interest rates.

The precious metals market, too, was full of action this week. On Friday, gold fell 11% and silver lost 31.35%, — with both noting the largest one-day dollar declines on record.  

“Gold and silver have gotten truly parabolic,” Newton said. “They’re, sort of at the end of their move in my view, but I still like being long if you own it and you just simply have to use a trailing stop. It’s still early to sell, but they have gotten very, very overbought.”

All Hail Meta, Apple Blockbuster Earnings For The S&P 500’s Gain This Week 

Chart of the Week

All Hail Meta, Apple Blockbuster Earnings For The S&P 500’s Gain This Week 

For Fundstrat Head of Technical Strategy Mark Newton, the beats by the Magnificent Seven still mean that “the Mag Seven have come back to life.” “I think in general, outside of Microsoft, it’s a pretty good sign,” he added. Our Chart of the Week has more details. Microsoft reported higher-than-expected capex on AI and slowing cloud growth. Shares fell 10% the next day, weighing heavily on the broader tech sector and highlighting just how much pressure software stocks are under right now. But the hit from that was somewhat softened by gangbusters earnings from Meta and Apple. The former has been able to use investments into AI to increase revenue growth. Meta’s stock rose 10% the next day. The latter, Apple, reported better-than-expected iPhone sales and profits but also rising costs perhaps limited their upside – though shares nevertheless added 0.5% the next day. Investors’ reaction for Tesla was much more muted. Tesla dropped 3.5% after earnings because it continues to lose its edge – at least in EV sales.

Recent ⚡ FlashInsights
Some encouraging stabilization in TSLA 3.15%  today after Musk announced they are starting talks to contemplate if merging TSLA with Space X might be possible or Space X and Xai. The sharp snapback today is helpful at a time when many felt the stock might be breaking down, yet more is left to do before being able to suggest imminent gains are likely in the very near-term. Ideally, a move next week back above $441 would help to not only rally back over yesterday’s highs but also surpass the downtrend which has been ongoing since December 2025. I tend to view this recent stabilization since January as part of this downtrend to be a minor positive. Yet, now the important confirmation requires the move back over $441. If this happens, then TSLA 3.15%  should have a fairly smooth path back up to challenge $499 which is the most important area on this chart, hopefully within the next month. Pullbacks down under $411, while not expected right away, would warrant taking steps to hedge longs for a possible decline as part of a prudent risk management process.
Flash Insight attachment
Jan 30 · 12:28 PM
PLTR -3.20%  now down to $148.52 today which technically on a closing basis would mark the lowest daily close since last July. As discussed with Software continuing to weaken, PLTR has not been immune to this, but now is getting down to levels which are quite important and i feel a trading low happens into Monday/Tuesday of next week. Many will discuss this pattern from last July as being a Head and Shoulders pattern based on Technical analysis, but these require weekly closes down under the “neckline” which in this case, lies at $147.56. My expectation is that downside from here is fairly minimal given a combination of meaningful support from both November 2025 and also August 2025 (at slightly lower levels) combined with the fact that IGV -1.97%  is quickly arriving at intermediate-term support into Monday of next week. Thus, while Software remains under pressure, there are reasons to suspect some short-term relief starting next week which might help to lift some of these names into mid-to-late February before additional weakness happens. Thus, i am making the case for a tactical, short-term low only in PLTR but also in MSFT which i believe happens starting either late today or early next week and helps these both to stabilize in the short run. PLTR -3.20%  daily chart from Marketsurge shown below.
Flash Insight attachment
Jan 30 · 12:11 PM
For those that care about tactical positioning. Gold and Silver have had a difficult week, but should try to stabilize here and push back to highs in my view over the next few weeks. Timing-wise, a move back to highs would likely mark a peak in the Metals which i suspect happens sometime in February and will fine-tune as time goes on and signals become clearer. For now, for those that might have exited any Gold holdings from a trading perspective, i feel this goes back to highs and is attractive from a short-term risk/reward perspective, only, technically. Short-term trends will confirm this when Gold pushes back above $5100, so this should be watched for in the days ahead. A brief push up to near 6000 looks possible in this view ( i had listed 6750 in my Annual technical report but am unclear at this time if this can happen right away)
Flash Insight attachment
Jan 30 · 12:10 PM

FS Insight Video: Weekly Highlight

All Hail Meta, Apple Blockbuster Earnings For The S&P 500’s Gain This Week 

Key incoming data

  • 1/26 8:30 AM ET: Nov P Durable Goods Orders MoM Tame
  • 1/26 10:30 AM ET: Jan Dallas Fed Manuf. Activity Survey Tame
  • 1/27 9:00 AM ET: Nov S&P Cotality CS 20-City MoM SA Mixed
  • 1/27 10:00 AM ET: Jan Conference Board Consumer Confidence Tame
  • 1/27 10:00 AM ET: Jan Richmond Fed Manufacturing Survey Tame
  • 1/28 2:00 PM ET: Jan FOMC Decision Dovish
  • 1/29 8:30 AM ET: Nov Trade Balance Tame
  • 1/29 8:30 AM ET: 3Q F Unit Labor Costs Tame
  • 1/29 8:30 AM ET: 3Q F Nonfarm Productivity QoQ Tame
  • 1/29 10:00 AM ET: Nov F Durable Goods Orders MoM Tame
  • 1/30 8:30 AM ET: Dec Core PPI MoM Hot
  • 2/2 9:45 AM ET: Jan F S&P Global Manufacturing PMI
  • 2/2 10:00 AM ET: Jan ISM Manufacturing PMI
  • 2/3 10:00 AM ET: Dec JOLTS Job Openings
  • 2/4 9:45 AM ET: Jan F S&P Global Services PMI
  • 2/4 10:00 AM ET: Jan ISM Services PMI
  • 2/6 8:30 AM ET: Jan Non-farm Payrolls
  • 2/6 10:00 AM ET: Feb P U. Mich. 1yr Inf Exp
All Hail Meta, Apple Blockbuster Earnings For The S&P 500’s Gain This Week 

Stock List Performance

All Hail Meta, Apple Blockbuster Earnings For The S&P 500’s Gain This Week 

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