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Good morning. The verdict on last night's two giants is in, and it is a useful one. Alphabet and Tesla both reported, and both fell afterward, even though neither report was a disaster. The reason was spending. Today the reactions play out, and Intel reports tonight.
The Market Gauge
Here is where the market finished on Wednesday, before the big reports landed:
S&P 500: 7,498.96, down 0.14%
Nasdaq: 25,690.90, down 0.57%
Dow: 52,218.58, down 0.01%
What drove it: A quiet, slightly lower day as the market waited on earnings. Per Investor's Business Daily, small-cap stocks led the decline while the S&P 500 held its footing, and oil and interest rates both kept climbing, with oil now near $88 a barrel. The real news came after the close, when Alphabet and Tesla reported.
Beginner note: Watch what happened to Alphabet. It beat expectations, with strong growth in its cloud business, and the stock still fell in after-hours trading. Why? Because it told investors it plans to spend even more on artificial intelligence, raising its 2026 budget to roughly $200 billion. The market decided that spending mattered more than the earnings beat. This is the same lesson we keep circling back to this week: a good report and a rising stock are not the same thing. The market has already priced in what it expects. It reacts to what surprises it.
On today's calendar
This is another earnings-driven day, front to back:
The Alphabet and Tesla reactions: both reported after last night's close, so today is when their stocks actually trade on the news. How they hold up, or don't, will set the tone, because these are two of the most widely held companies in the market.
Intel reports after today's close, and a heavy slate of others fills the day, including major telecom, defense, and railroad names. The market's read on spending, especially on AI, is the thread running through all of it.
On the radar: Tesla
$TSLA ( ▼ 9.77% ) is worth watching today because its report is a clean case study in the beginner note above. Tesla closed Wednesday at $374.01, down 1.3%, before its results came out. Then the numbers landed: per IBD, profit jumped from a year ago but came in below what analysts expected, and the company burned cash for the first time in years as its spending climbed. The stock fell in extended trading.
How it has been acting: Tesla has been weak for a while. Its 52-week range runs from $297.82 to $498.83, so at $374 it sits about 25% below its high and below its key moving averages. This is not a stock in an uptrend right now, and last night's report did not change that.
Why it is worth watching: A giant, closely followed company reporting earnings is one of the best free lessons a beginner can get. You are watching the market weigh a report in real time. Notice that the profit still grew, and the stock still fell, because investors focused on the cash burn and the heavy spending instead. You do not need to have an opinion on Tesla, and you should not trade the reaction. Just watch how the stock behaves today, and on what volume. That is the skill this whole week has been about.
ONE FOR THE ROAD
When a company you follow beats expectations but the stock falls anyway, does that confuse you, or does it make sense? Hit reply and tell me.
Educational content only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not predict future results. Read the full financial disclosure.
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