Markets Brief: What to Watch in Big Tech Earnings, Plus the Fed Meeting

After several days in which we all learned more about the importance of Greenland than we would have imagined and saw a return to the “TACO trade,” this week will feature plenty of corporate and macro-economic news for investors to focus on.

Wednesday will bring a triple bill of mega-cap earnings, with Tesla TSLA, Microsoft MSFT, and Meta Platforms META all reporting results. Apple AAPL will report on Thursday.

Tesla: Cars vs Robots

Last week, we took a deep dive into Tesla stock, looking at whether the optimism around the company’s focus on robotaxis and humanoid robots will prove correct, or if it’s neglecting its core business of making electric vehicles.

Here’s what Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein says about what to watch in Tesla’s reports:

• We will be looking at Tesla’s automotive gross margin. Tesla already reported that deliveries will be down in the fourth quarter and full year for 2025, but we will look to see how Tesla’s automotive margins ended the year as lower sales should weigh on margins due to negative operating leverage, partially offset by growing high-margin autonomous driving software revenue.
• We hope to hear an update on the plan for robotaxi in 2026. Tesla is currently testing robotaxi in two cities and is just starting to remove the safety driver in Austin, Texas. We want to hear management’s expansion plan, when they will be confident removing the safety driver in more cities, and how they envision Cybercab testing fitting into this throughout the year. We think robotaxi will continue to be the largest driver of Tesla’s stock in 2026, so their ability to execute their testing and ramp up plan will likely move the stock.
• We hope to hear an update on full self-driving adoption rates. Tesla is switching to a monthly subscription only for FSD software, so we hope to hear an update on adoption rates and management’s thoughts on FSD monthly subscription prices over time as the software continues to improve.
• CEO Elon Musk recently said he aims for Optimus humanoid robots to begin selling next year. We hope to hear progress on this project and the rollout plan for commercialization of this product.

Microsoft Earnings

Wednesday afternoon will also bring Microsoft’s earnings. Morningstar’s Dan Romanoff says he’ll be watching AI developments, capacity constraints, and the demand environment for software. Check out our Romanoff’s full earnings preview and his broader thoughts on Microsoft stock.

Meta: Another Capital Inferno?

Meta’s quarterly report will come on Wednesday evening. The stock had rallied along with the rest of the AI crowd, but late last year, investors began to have flashbacks to the firm’s massive (and largely fruitless) metaverse spending.

“Investors are just worried about the capital inferno, and we’ve seen this before” says Morningstar analyst Malik Ahmed Khan. “People are worried about the 2026 numbers that are going to come out when the company reports.”

Apple’s Renewed iPhone Strength

Next, Apple will report on Thursday. Morningstar analyst William Kerwin expects a record sales quarter, led by the iPhone, along with double-digit services revenue growth. Also of interest will be commentary on the company’s recent deal with Google Gemini. Check out Kerwin’s full look at Apple stock.

Fed Ahead

The big macro event for the week will be the two-day Federal Reserve meeting, which concludes Wednesday. Predictions have been stable, with futures market traders expecting officials to put interest rate cuts on hold. At his post-meeting press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is likely to stress being data-dependent, meaning we will have to see how the inflation and economic growth trajectories unfold. In what would otherwise be a fairly drama-free meeting, expect reporters to ask lots of questions about Fed independence that Powell may or may not answer directly.