US Equity Markets Mostly Lower as Microsoft's Quarterly Results Trigger Sell-Off

04:08 PM EST, 01/29/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes ended mostly lower Thursday as details from Microsoft's (MSFT) quarterly results triggered a sell-off in the technology sector.

* Initial jobless claims declined to 209,000 in the week ended Jan. 24 from an upwardly revised 210,000 in the previous week, compared with analyst expectations of 205,000 according to a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

* New orders for US factory goods rose 2.7% in November, above expectations of a 1.6% increase in a Bloomberg-compiled survey and following a 1.2% decrease in October.

* March West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose $2.50 to settle at $65.71 per barrel, while March Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen up $2.62 to $71.02.

* Southwest Airlines (LUV) shares were up over 18%, a day after the company issued 2026 adjusted earnings guidance that beat market estimates.

* Microsoft Azure grew 38% on a constant-currency basis while exceeding the firm's guidance by 1 percentage point, but still disappointed investors, Morgan Stanley said in a note. Shares of Microsoft (MSFT), which beat on fiscal Q2 adjusted earnings and sales, still fell by about 10%.

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