5 Things to Know Before the Stock Market Opens on January 28, 2026

Markets brace for another day of legacy finance theater while digital assets rewrite the rulebook overnight.

1. The Opening Bell Ritual

Traders prepare for the ceremonial 9:30 AM frenzy—a tradition maintained mostly because Wall Street loves its pageantry. Meanwhile, crypto markets just completed their third consecutive green candle while traditional finance was asleep.

2. Pre-Market Whispers

Futures indicate a flat open, because why move decisively when you can charge commissions for sideways action? The real volatility happened in DeFi yield pools while New York was dreaming.

3. Earnings Theater Continues

Another round of carefully massaged numbers hits the tape. Remember: GAAP earnings are what you show regulators, pro forma earnings are what you show investors, and blockchain settlements are what you can actually verify.

4. Central Bank Chatter

Analysts parse Fed statements for hints about next week's quarter-point decision—the financial equivalent of reading tea leaves. Digital asset markets respond to code deployments, not press conference semantics.

5. The Institutional Dance

Pension funds allocate another 0.1% to 'alternative assets' after three years of committee meetings. Crypto-native funds rebalanced their algorithmic portfolios six times since yesterday's close.

Bonus jab: Traditional markets still measure settlement in 'business days' because apparently technology hasn't reached finance yet.

The opening bell rings, the circus begins—but the real innovation traded right through the night.

Stock Futures Rise After S&P 500 Hit Record High; Gold Rally Continues

Stocks are pointing to a higher open ahead of the Fed's latest decision on interest rates and a flurry of earnings reports from major tech companies. Futures tied to the S&P 500, which closed at a record high on Tuesday, were up 0.2% recently, while Nasdaq futures added 0.8% as tech stocks continued to rally. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were hovering near unchanged this morning, after a 20% decline in shares of UnitedHealth sent the blue chip index down more than 400 points yesterday. Gold futures were up 3.5% at $3,260 this morning, as the precious metal continues to set all-time highs. bitcoin was trading just below $90,000, up from an overnight low of $88,700 and gaining ground for the third straight day. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, was at 4.24%, up from 4.22% at yesterday's close.

Fed Set to Announce Rate Decision This Afternoon

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its latest decision on interest rates at 2:00 p.m. ET following the two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. While the Fed isn't expected to cut rates today after doing so three times in a row to end last year, there is still plenty to watch out for, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell set to speak at a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET. Investors will be eager to hear what Powell has to say about the outlook for inflation and the job market, and what that might mean for interest rates this year. Powell will also likely be asked about the pressure he has faced from President Donald TRUMP to aggressively lower rates and a Department of Justice investigation that Powell has said is politically motivated. The legal threat against Powell and the persistent demands from Trump for lower rates have sparked concerns that Fed independence could be compromised.

Meta, Microsoft, Tesla Headline Busy Earnings Day

Wednesday will also be dominated by big tech earnings, with results from Tesla (TSLA), Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META) all due after the closing bell. For Tesla, investors will be listening for updates from CEO Elon Musk on the manufacturing and sales timelines for Optimus humanoid robots and details on expansion of self-driving robotaxis to cities beyond Austin and San Francisco. For Microsoft, investors will be watching for signs that AI demand remains strong and is still driving revenue for the Azure cloud services platform, along with its plans for spending on AI infrastructure this year. AI spending will also be in focus for Meta, as some investors and analysts have questioned whether big tech companies will ever see a return on the hundreds of billions they are spending on AI infrastructure. Shares of Tesla, Meta and Microsoft were little changed in premarket trading. Among the big-name companies that reported this morning, shares of Starbucks (SBUX) and AT&T (T) were up sharply ahead of the opening bell, while GE Vernova (GEV) stock lost ground.

China Clears Way for Nvidia H200 Chip Sales

China has given clearance to big tech companies in the country including ByteDance and Alibaba (BABA) to start placing orders for Nvidia's (NVDA) H200 chips, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal reported. Nvidia reached a deal with the Trump administration to receive a license to export the less-advanced chips late last year, with the federal government receiving 25% of the revenue from the chips. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had said demand from Chinese customers looked strong, but it was uncertain whether Nvidia had received any actual orders yet as Chinese companies awaited approval from the Chinese government, which had stopped the companies from buying previous generation H20 chips when they had been made available. Nvidia shares were up nearly 2% recently.

Amazon to Undergo Largest Layoffs Ever With 16,000 Workers Cut

Amazon (AMZN) is set to undergo its largest layoffs ever just months after setting that record with 14,000 cuts in October. The tech giant told employees Wednesday that another 16,000 jobs will be eliminated in a new round of cuts. The company said in October that the cuts were being made because of a need to be "organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to MOVE as quickly as possible for our customers and business." The tech sector has been hit hard by layoffs in recent years. Some experts have said companies are correcting from over-hiring during the pandemic, while others have pointed to the massive investments being put into AI infrastructure and the need to continue growing profits while doing so as an explanation for the cuts. Reuters reported late last week that more layoffs were looming at Amazon, after reporting around the time of the October cuts that the company was likely looking to cut around 30,000 jobs in total.