80 seconds of Big Tech earnings will decide stock market’s fate

Traders Jim Bodner, left, and Chris Lagana work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, April 23, 2026. Photo by AP Photo/Richard Drew

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Investors looking for clues on which direction the stock market is headed in the coming weeks will get a rapid-fire reading as soon as trading ends on Wednesday.

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Four of the biggest companies in the U.S. — Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp. — are due to report earnings after the bell. And if they hit at the same time they did last quarter, it will all play out in just 80 seconds.

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“I can’t remember a time where you had this many names in one shot,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at Jonestrading. “It’s going to be hectic.”

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What the numbers reveal will have far reaching implications. The companies are part of the Magnificent Seven tech behemoths, along with Nvidia Corp., Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc., that have pushed the S&P 500 Index to record after record in the past few weeks and put it on pace for its best month since November 2020. They’re also the four biggest spenders on artificial intelligence computing infrastructure, which has made chipmakers and memory storage device manufacturers the hottest trades on Wall Street.

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Details on those capital expenditures and revenue growth from AI will be top of mind for traders, prioritized over numbers from core businesses such as e-commerce, digital advertising and software. The reason is that the big outlays have become a double-edged sword in the tech universe.

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On one hand, an entire ecosystem of suppliers hinges on Big Tech’s continued largess. The Philadelphia semiconductor index has surged soared 32 per cent in April on the strength of an 18-session winning streak, putting it on track for its best month since February 2000.  Meanwhile, semiconductor and storage related companies account for the 11 best performing stocks in the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index this year. And it’s all tied to ballooning revenues from AI capex.

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On the other hand, shareholders are concerned about the vast amounts being spent and when the companies will see bigger payoffs from the investments. ChatGPT-owner OpenAI reportedly missed internal targets for new users and revenue, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal, raising concerns about its ability to meet massive infrastructure funding commitments. The Philadelphia semiconductor index tumbled 3.6 per cent, its worst day in a month.

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“If capex is paired with positive revenue, measurable revenue, and outlooks that show that earnings and revenue are being guided higher, then I think increased capex will be OK for the stocks,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise. “But if we see any slippage on the outlooks, that will lead to more volatility and pressure the S&P 500.”

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Here’s a look at expectations for each company:

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Microsoft

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The software giant’s shares are coming off their worst quarter since 2008, and their 11 per cent drop this year makes them the weakest performers among the seven most valuable companies in the S&P 500. Microsoft and the broader software industry has been under pressure for some time due to concerns about disruption from AI, even though the maker of Excel and Word is investing heavily to beef up computing power for the technology.