Preview of US Stock Market | Three major stock index futures rise together, gold and silver reach new highs, Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) announces financial report after hours trading.

Pre-market Market Trends 1. Before the US stock market on January 29 (Thursday), futures for the three major US stock indexes rose. As of the time of writing, the Dow futures were up 0.07%, the S&P 500 futures were up 0.20%, and the Nasdaq futures were up 0.23%. 2. As of the time of writing, the DAX index in Germany fell 0.88%, the FTSE 100 index in the UK rose 0.67%, the CAC40 index in France rose 0.63%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.53%. 3. As of the time of writing, WTI crude oil rose 2.47% to $64.77 per barrel. Brent crude oil rose 2.24% to $68.88 per barrel. Market News Gold and silver prices hit new highs again! As of the time of writing, spot gold rose nearly 2% to $5524 per ounce, approaching $5600 per ounce at one point; spot silver rose over 1% to $118.4 per ounce, reaching $120 per ounce at one point. In its latest report on precious metals, Suky Cooper, Global Head of Commodity Research at Standard Chartered Bank, stated that gold's unprecedented rise continues to be supported by fundamental factors. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has raised its year-end gold price forecast from $4900 per ounce to $5400 per ounce, as demand from private investors and central banks continues to increase. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has set a stunning target of $6600 per ounce. Royal Bank of Canada stated that gold still has "upside potential" and believes that the price of gold has the potential to reach $7100 per ounce. Meanwhile, analysts point out that for silver, the recent epic rise in prices is not just driven by speculative sentiment, but by a disruption in the physical supply chain - currently, the silver inventory in exchange warehouses is only enough to cover 14% of open contracts. Shrinking inventories, large commercial short positions, and rare contract inversion structures all indicate that a textbook "short squeeze" drama is unfolding in real time. Copper prices hit another historic high! Copper prices surged past $14,000. Due to expectations of strong economic growth in the United States and increased spending in data centers, Siasun Robot&Automation, and power infrastructure sectors globally in 2026, basic metal prices had a strong start to the year, leading to a historic high for copper prices. Driven by a new round of intense speculative trading by bulls, copper prices recorded the largest single-day increase in years, exceeding $14,000 per ton and reaching a historical high. As of the time of writing, LME copper futures rose nearly 6% to $13,800 per ton. Trump's threat to Iran boosts risk premium! Brent crude oil rises for the third consecutive day, touching $70 per barrel. As oil prices continued to rise for the third consecutive day, driven by President Trump's increased military threats to Iran, Brent crude oil futures rose about 2.7%, breaking through $70 per barrel for the first time since September last year; WTI crude oil futures also rose above $65 per barrel. Reports suggest that as the U.S. military surrounds Iran with heavy forces, President Trump has issued a "final warning" to Iran - to consider launching new major strikes against Iran. This is Trump's third consecutive day of threatening Iran. Since the beginning of 2026, oil prices have continued to rebound, reversing earlier expectations in the market that oversupply of oil would suppress prices. On the contrary, political tensions from GEO Group Inc in Venezuela to Iran, and significant supply disruptions in Kazakhstan, have supported the increase in oil prices. Once the U.S. launches a military strike against Iran, it could endanger oil supplies in the Middle East - a region that accounts for about one-third of global oil supply. Fear of devaluation overrides Treasury Secretary's protection, and the U.S. dollar rebounds "one day trip" before turning downward again. As the market's concerns about the so-called "debasement trade" reignited due to fears of U.S. policy uncertainty, unsustainable large fiscal deficits, and growing isolation of the United States, the impact overshadowed the Treasury Secretary Benson's reiteration of the strong dollar policy, causing the dollar exchange rate to fall back again after a brief rebound on Wednesday. As of the time of writing, the U.S. dollar index was slightly down at 96.38. The so-called "debasement trade" refers to the market's bet that the purchasing power of the dollar will decline in the long term due to uncertainty in U.S. policy-making, unsustainable massive fiscal deficits, and the increasing isolation of the United States. Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital, stated that the dollar has not served as a safe haven currency for some time, and investors are now favoring tangible safe-haven assets like gold. Stock News Cloud business growth slows, AI "burn rate" scares off investors, Microsoft Corporation's (MSFT.US) financial report shines but faces market "voting with their feet." In the second quarter of the fiscal year ending December 31, Microsoft Corporation's revenue increased by about 17% to $81.27 billion, surpassing the market's widely expected $80.3 billion; net profit was $38.46 billion, with earnings per share of $5.16, well above the expected $3.92 per share. Adjusted earnings per share were $4.14, also beating expectations. Although Microsoft Corporation's overall cloud business revenue exceeded $500 billion for the first time, reaching $51.5 billion, the slight slowdown in Azure's growth was interpreted by the market as a signal of potential volatility in the AI-driven cloud growth story. What put pressure on the market was Microsoft Corporation's surge in capital spending. In the quarter, Microsoft Corporation's capital spending reached $37.5 billion, a 66% increase year-on-year, exceeding analysts' expectations of $36.2 billion. Two-thirds of this expenditure was for computing chips to build data centers to meet AI needs. As of the time of writing, Microsoft Corporation was down over 6% before the US market opened. Meta (META.US) aggressively expands into AI, Q4 financial report sends key signal: High investment = high growth? The financial report showed that Meta achieved revenue of $59.89 billion in Q4 2025, a significant increase of 24% driven by improved advertising efficiency through AI. Earnings per share were $8.88, surpassing the market's consensus estimate of $8.21. The company's total revenue for the year of 2025 crossed the $200 billion mark for the first time, reaching $200.97 billion. The company's capital spending for the year 2025 reached a high of $72.2 billion. The ongoing increase in expenditure remains a focus for the market. In its financial report, Meta provided an expansive future capital expenditure guidance, expecting capital expenditures to reach $115 billion to $135 billion in 2026, significantly exceeding the market's expectations of around $110.6 billion. These funds will mainly go towards expanding super-large data centers and purchasing high-end compute chips to support the increasing demand for AI model training and inference. Additionally, the company expects total revenue for Q1 2026 to be between $53.5 billion and $56.5 billion, higher than analysts' expectations of $51.27 billion. As of the time of writing, Meta was up over 8% before the US market opened. Tesla, Inc.'s (TSLA.US) Q4 profit plunges 61%, Musk upholds faith with "technology grandeur." The financial report disclosed that Tesla, Inc. achieved total revenue of $24.901 billion in Q4, a decrease of about 3% compared to the previous year, marking the first annual revenue decline for the company but exceeding analysts' average estimate of $24.79 billion. Revenue from the automotive business was $17.693 billion, a decrease of about 11% year-over-year but still the major part of the company's revenue, although the proportion continued to decline; revenue from energy generation and storage business reached $3.837 billion, an increase of about 25%. GAAP net profit was $840 million, a decrease of about 61%; non-GAAP net profit was $17.61 billion, a decrease of about 16%. Diluted GAAP earnings per share were $0.24, a decrease of 60%. However, Tesla, Inc. CEO Musk highlighted positive progress in large-scale energy storage, artificial intelligence, fully autonomous driving (FSD), Robotaxi, and the innovative "Optimus" humanoid robot from Siasun Robot&Automation during the earnings conference call. The market chooses to believe in the "Tesla, Inc. super tech empire" envisioned by Musk. As of the time of writing, Tesla, Inc. was up nearly 3% before the US market opened. AI orders exceed $12.5 billion! IBM (IBM.US) exceeds revenue expectations, software business drives strong growth. IBM announced fourth-quarter sales exceeding analysts' expectations, driven by strong growth in its highly regarded software segment. The financial report showed that IBM's fourth-quarter revenue increased by 12% year-over-year to $19.7 billion, exceeding the expected $19.2 billion; non-GAAP earnings per share were $4.52, surpassing the estimated $4.29. The largest portion of revenue came from IBM's software business, which grew by 14% to $9.03 billion, also above expectations. IBM stated that since mid-2023, its AI business has generated orders exceeding $12.5 billion. The company expects revenue growth to exceed 5% in 2026 after adjusting for currency fluctuations, surpassing Wall Street's forecast of 4.1%; free cash flow is expected to reach approximately $15.7 billion, also exceeding analysts' average expectation. As of the time of writing, IBM was up over 8% before the US market opened. Earnings across the board "smash expectations!" Lam Research Corporation (LRCX.US) reports a 22% revenue increase, Q3 guidance well above market expectations. Semiconductor equipment manufacturer Lam Research Corporation (LRCX.US) reported better-than-expected results for the fiscal second quarter of 2026 and provided strong guidance. The financial report showed that the company's second-quarter revenue reached $5.34 billion, a 22% increase year-over-year and exceeding expectations by $100 million; non-GAAP earnings per share were $1.27, exceeding expectations by $0.10. The adjusted gross margin was 49.7%, higher than the expected 48.6%; the adjusted operating margin was 34.3%, higher than the expected 32.9%. Looking ahead, Lam Research Corporation expects third-quarter revenue to be between $5.4 billion and $6 billion, significantly exceeding the previous expectations of $5.3 billion. Earnings per share are expected to be between $1.25 and $1.45, higher than the market's consensus of $1.20. As of the time of writing, Lam Research Corporation was up nearly 4% before the US market opened. Regulatory clouds obscure financial halo: Deutsche Bank (DB.US) reports record Q4 profit, "money laundering probe" pressures stock price. Deutsche Bank achieved record profits in the fourth quarter of 2025, with net profit attributable to shareholders reaching EUR 1.3 billion (USD 1.56 billion), higher than the analysts' previous forecast of EUR 1.12 billion. Total revenue in Q4 was EUR 7.73 billion, a 7.1% increase year-over-year, almost in line with LSEG's estimate of EUR 7.72 billion. Earnings per share were EUR 0.76, compared to market expectations of EUR 0.55. Looking ahead, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft expects revenue to increase to around EUR 33 billion this year, mainly driven by growth in lending and fee income. However, a search by prosecutors this week into Deutsche Bank's suspected money laundering is putting pressure on the strong performance. Recovery of semiconductor chip demand adds evidence! STMicroelectronics NV ADR RegS (STM.US) reports better-than-expected Q4 revenue and Q1 guidance. As semiconductor chip demand shows signs of recovery, STMicroelectronics NV ADR RegS released better-than-expected financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025 and first quarter guidance for 2026. The financial report shows that STMicroelectronics NV ADR RegS' Q4 revenue grew by 0.2% year-over-year to $3.329 billion, exceeding analysts' average forecast of $3.29 billion. Operating profit was $1.25 billion, a 66.0% decrease year-over-year; excluding a $141 million impairment charge from business restructuring, the operating profit for the quarter was $2.66 billion. Looking ahead, STMicroelectronics NV ADR RegS expects revenue for the first quarter of 2026 to be $3.04 billion, higher than analysts' average expectation of $2.99 billion; the first quarter gross margin is expected to be 33.7%. SAP (SAP.US) reports Q4 earnings per share of EUR 1.62, up 16%, announces EUR 10 billion share buyback plan. The financial report shows that the company's Q4 total revenue reached EUR 9.68 billion, a 9% increase when calculated at a fixed exchange rate. The company's core growth engine, the cloud business, stood out with revenue of EUR 5.61 billion, a 19% increase year-over-year (an increase of 26% in fixed exchange rate terms), slightly higher than the market's previous consensus expectation of EUR 5.5 billion. Non-IFRS basic earnings per share were EUR 1.62, up 16% from the previous year and higher than the analyst's forecast of EUR 1.51. Particularly noteworthy is the company's doubling of its free cash flow to EUR 8.24 billion in 2025, well above the target of EUR 8 billion. As of the end of the quarter, the company's cloud backlog orders (the portion to be recognized as revenue within the next 12 months) stood at EUR 21.05 billion, a 25% growth calculated at a fixed exchange rate. However, the company's CFO admitted that the growth slowdown was sharper than expected and previous guidance suggesting only a slight deceleration was off target. He attributed the softening growth to a shift in the deal structure towards larger digital transformation projects, which often have longer lead times or more flexible business architectures, thus weakening the short-term contribution to backlogged orders. As of the time of writing, SAP was down nearly 15% before the US market opened. Nokia Oyj Sponsored ADR (NOK.US) reports a mild 3% revenue growth in Q4, with network infrastructure and mobile networks as the main drivers. In constant currency terms, Nokia Oyj Sponsored ADR's net sales for the fourth quarter increased by 3% to EUR 6.1 billion, in line with expectations. This growth was primarily driven by the expansion of the network infrastructure and mobile network business, offsetting declines in other business segments. The Finnish telecommunications equipment manufacturer's comparable operating profit for the quarter was EUR 1.06 billion, slightly below EUR 1.09 billion in the same period last year. The comparable operating profit margin decreased by 90 basis points to 17.3%, mainly due to growth investments in network infrastructure, including the integration of the recently acquired Infinera. Looking ahead, Nokia Oyj Sponsored ADR published financial guidance for 2026, targeting comparable operating profit between EUR 2 billion and EUR 2.5 billion. The company expects net sales from network infrastructure business to grow by 6% to 8% in 2026, in line with its long-term target. As of the time of writing, Nokia Oyj Sponsored ADR was down over 6% before the US market opened. Star drug Dupixent sales hit a new high again! Sanofi (SNY.US) beats Q4 profit expectations. Boosted by strong sales performance of the blockbuster skin and asthma drug Dupixent, Sanofi exceeded expectations for Q4 2025 profits and forecasted continued revenue and profit growth in 2026. The financial report showed that Sanofi's Q4 sales were EUR 11.303 billion, a 7.0% increase year-over-year (a 13.3% increase in fixed exchange rate terms). Business earnings per share were EUR 1.53, a 16.8% increase, outperforming the average analyst forecast of EUR 1.45. In the fourth quarter, Dupixent sales increased by 32.2% year-over-year (in fixed exchange rate terms) to a record EUR 4.246 billion, exceeding analyst expectations and solidifying the drug's position as a key driver of Sanofi's performance growth. Looking ahead, Sanofi expects revenue to grow in the high single digits (in fixed exchange rate terms) in 2026, with earnings per share growth slightly higher than revenue. The company also announced a EUR 10 billion stock buyback plan for 2026. Q4 profits double exceeding expectations! Lloyds Banking Group plc Sponsored ADR (LYG.US) announces a 1.75 billion buyback, signaling significant effectiveness in business diversification transformation. Lloyds Banking Group plc, the UK's largest mortgage bank, released its fourth-quarter financial report, achieving strong profitability driven by core banking business and rapidly growing insurance and wealth management products, and announced an additional 1.75 billion (approximately $2.4 billion) share buyback plan. Based on preliminary performance, Lloyds Banking Group plc's pre-tax profit in Q4 reached 1.98 billion, more than doubling year-over-year and significantly surpassing the average analyst expectation of 1.72 billion. The bank also updated its 2026 financial guidance, expecting the basic net interest income for the full year to reach 14.9 billion, with a tangible return on equity (ROTE) target of 16%.