CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Mixed, Fed Holds Interest Rates Steady, S&P 500 Hits 7k, Results Out From Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla 1/28/26

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

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I'm Jessica Eddinger, CNBC, mixed markets on Wednesday after the Fed held interest rates steady. The Dow was up 12 points. The S&P 500 index lost a half a point. The NASDAQ was up 40 points. Companies who shares at fresh all-time highs on Wednesday include Exxon, Johnson & Johnson, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, plus applied materials, Micron, and Newman mining. gold hit another all-time high on Wednesday. CNBC's Mike Santoli says you can thank the big tech names for getting the S&P 500 index to a record 7,000 on Wednesday before it pulled back. Although many believe it's only a matter of time till it stays above 7,000. The 7,000 tag that comes three months to the day after we first got above 6,900 intraday.

So that final 100 points has been just this sort of churning sideways thing. it take to get us to that point? You get the biggest guys on the field for the tush push. And that's literally what happened. Because until the mag seven reengaged, you couldn't quite get the oomf behind it. The Fed stayed on hold with interest rates right where they are. And that was expected. Here's Fed Chair Jay Powell on inflation, saying that consumers are just seeing prices reset higher. And then there shouldn't be any more of that. We do think tariffs are likely to move through and be a one-time price increase. So the expectation is, that we will see the effects of tariffs flowing through goods prices, peaking, and then starting to come down,

assuming there are no new major tariff increases that are begun. Facebook Parent Meta reported better than expected quarterly results after the closing bell. This company's been aggressively investing in AI for the last three years. They rebuilt their ad tech stack. They have the fastest advertising growth model at scale of anybody. Why? because they've successfully used AI to improve engagement amongst users and improve return on ad spend amongst advertisers. And this company, when pressed, has shown cost discipline.

Evercore ISIs Mark Mahaney on CNBC. Shares of meta did slip in after hours trading. Also out after the bell, Microsoft, its shares dropped 7% after hours, even with better than expected quarterly results. Azure growth, its cloud growth, came in slightly lower than forecasts. Tesla also out with better than expected quarterly results. Its shares were flat after hours. Oil prices pushed higher Wednesday after President Trump said an armada is heading to Iran. A full-day symposium on Trump accounts in Washington Wednesday.

CNBC's Sarah Eisen spoke with the Treasury Secretary. This is a federally supported investment initiative for children in the U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson joins me now. We want to raise the profile. We want all Americans to start. signing up. So just this week, since the start of filing season with the IRS, we have had 600,000 families out of an estimated 25 million already fill out form 4547. Everyone could go to Trumpaccount.gov, sign up today. Now, these accounts are only for children born last year,

this year, and in 27 and 28. When an account is created, $1,000 will be deposited and invested to grow for that child's future. Thursday's watch list. We find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week. Earnings are coming from Caterpillar, Honeywell, Blackstone, Comcast, Dow, Lockheed Martin, MasterCard, Apple, and Visa. Starbucks holds its Investor Day, and Netflix releases the first half of season four of Bridgeton. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Take the bull by the horns every morning with Jim's top 10. Write to your inbox. Sign up now for free at CNBC.com.

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