On January 8, 2026, stock market futures were pointing lower after major indices fell from recent highs and sectors had mixed results. President Donald Trump’s plan for a $1.5 trillion defense budget in 2027 pushed up the prices of defense stocks. At the same time, tech giants like Alphabet passed Apple in market cap.
Important Changes in the Market
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 466 points, or 0.9%, to 48,996 on January 7, ending a three-day rally. The S&P 500 also fell, by 0.3%, to 6,920.93. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% to 23,584, thanks to gains in technology stocks. However, futures for the Dow fell 0.3%, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 0.4–0.5% before the market opened on January 8.
Rally in the Defense Sector
After Trump’s proposal to spend more on defense, stocks in the defense industry rose sharply. In premarket trading, Northrop Grumman was up 6.8%, Lockheed Martin was up 6.7%, RTX was up 5.4%, and Kratos Defense was up 6.6%. But Trump’s comments against dividends and buybacks for defense companies later hurt the stocks of General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman.
Tech News: Alphabet Beats Apple
Alphabet’s market cap reached $3.888 trillion, beating Apple’s $3.847 trillion for the first time since 2019. This was thanks to a 2% rise in shares to $321.98, which was fueled by excitement about the Gemini 3 model’s AI. Apple’s stock dropped 0.8%, which shows that it is more cautious about AI than its competitors.
Other Important Changes
After Trump said that the U.S. would buy up to 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela, oil prices fell. WTI was at $56.85. After getting permission to export, NVIDIA saw a lot of demand for H200 AI chips in China.
