Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
S&P 500 futures were relatively unchanged on Wednesday as traders continued to move out of technology stocks and digested the latest labor market data.
Futures linked to the broad market index rose 0.1%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 108 points, or 0.2%. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.4%.
In premarket trading, shares of Advanced Micro Devices dropped 9% after its first-quarter forecast underwhelmed some analysts, adding to the recent pressure seen in tech. Other names in the space such as Broadcom and Micron Technology dipped as well.
Software stocks also continued to face pressure, with stocks like Oracle and CrowdStrike extending their losses from the prior trading day.
“Bottom line, something I said back in late November, the GenAI tech trade is no longer a one way ride. We’ve transitioned it from ‘buy everything’ to ‘not everyone can win.’ I believe we are losing this trade in terms of its ability to carry the market but luckily so far investors have found other things to buy and that includes other parts of the S&P 500, small and mid cap and for sure international stocks,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at One Point BFG Wealth Partners.
Meanwhile, ADP on Wednesday released its monthly look at private payroll growth for January, which showed an increase of just 22,000 on the month. That’s below the gain of 45,000 jobs that economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast.
The release generally precedes the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on nonfarm payrolls, but that won’t be out this week due to the partial government shutdown. The shutdown, which began Saturday, officially ended Tuesday, when President Donald Trump signed a funding bill into law.
On Tuesday, the major averages sold off as investors gravitated out of riskier growth names and toward cyclical stocks like Walmart. Nvidia and Microsoft each lost more than 2%. Big-name artificial intelligence infrastructure names Broadcom, Oracle and Micron also closed in the red. The tech sector was the worst performer in the S&P 500, down more than 2%.
All eyes are now on Alphabet, as the company is slated to report earnings after the bell Wednesday. The quarterly results of fellow “Magnificent Seven” member Amazon are due Thursday.