January 28th Pre-Market

Safe havens hit records. Chips rip. Big Tech numbers Today.

Author

J.L. Bernstein
January 28, 2026

In partnership with

Good morning.

Chips are strong after solid earnings out east from ASML and SK Hynix, while gold and the Swiss franc hit all time highs on safe haven demand.

Fed decision at 2:30 won't change rates, but Powell's tone matters for summer cut expectations. Today’s  main event will be Big Tech earnings might tell us more about market direction than anything the Fed says.

Let's dig in...

P.S. The afternoon report will always stay but I’m experimenting with a shorter premarket overview.

Today's Big Picture

1. AI Hardware Spending Stays Strong

ASML and SK Hynix posted record quarters. ASML's Q4 orders hit $15.3 billion—more than double the $7.3 billion analysts expected. SK Hynix doubled its 2025 operating profit to $32.9 billion.

China just approved Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent to buy Nvidia's H200 chips. Equipment orders keep climbing. Chipmakers can't keep up.

2. Fed Holds, Powell Under Pressure

Rates stay at 3.5%-3.75% today. That's priced in. The real story is Powell's press conference, he's facing a DOJ probe and an administration pushing for cuts. Watch for how he handles the political pressure. Summer cuts are still possible if inflation cooperates.

3. Dollar Dumps, Gold Rips

The dollar had its worst day since April yesterday. It's now down 10% over the past year. Trump was asked if it's fallen too far. His answer: "I think it's great."

Gold hit a new intraday record above $5,300 this morning. Silver jumped 7%.

One name to watch here: Tether. They now hold 140 metric tons of gold….roughly $24 billion worth, more than the central bank reserves of Sweden or Mexico. They're buying 1-2 tons per week and plan to keep going for months. The largest stablecoin operator in the world, whose entire business is dollar-denominated, is aggressively stacking physical gold. Draw your own conclusions.

Today’s Sponsor

In a bombshell interview, Elon Musk declared that AI and robotics are "the only thing" that can solve America's $38 trillion debt crisis.

He predicts it will happen within three years. One Wall Street veteran has identified a single fund at the center of this AI buildout - and you can get in for less than $20.

See what Musk didn't tell you

Stock Spotlight

posted record orders and raised 2026 targets. They're buying back 12 billion euros in stock.

Texas Instruments $TXN ( ▼ 0.92% ) 

beat and guided higher. Looks like the chip recovery is spreading beyond just AI.

popped after China greenlit sales of H200 chips to local companies. Huge for their international business.

is closing all Fresh and Go stores to go all in on Whole Foods $WFM ( 0.0% ) .

crushed earnings and added 10 billion to its buyback.

surged on a big earnings beat. Online education is still growing.

fell after missing estimates. Their CEO warned that luxury is going to struggle this year.

dropped on weak guidance. Phone chips aren't recovering like AI chips.

What to Watch

Fed Press Conference: 
Powell speaks at 2:30 PM. Markets want hints on summer cuts. The wilder card: how he handles questions about the DOJ probe and White House pressure.

Microsoft and Meta Earnings: 
Both report after the close. AI capex has been massive—now we find out if it's generating returns.

Tesla Financials: 
Reports tonight. Margins have been bleeding for a year. Are they finally stabilizing?

Debt Ceiling Talks: 
Heating up in Congress. If this drags out, expect Treasury yields to spike.


Thanks for reading 🙂

- John

Today’s Sponsor

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