市场资讯及洞察

Expected earnings date: Wednesday, 28 January 2026 (US, after market close) / early Thursday, 29 January 2026 (AEDT)
Key areas in focus
Intelligent Cloud (Azure)
Azure remains Microsoft’s primary earnings swing factor. Markets are watching to see whether any growth reflects demand strength or capacity constraints, and how AI-related workloads are impacting margins.
Productivity and Business Processes
Microsoft 365, Office, and LinkedIn are sources of recurring revenue for Microsoft. Growth, pricing discipline, and client churn remain the key variables that markets will be watching.
Personal Computing
Windows, devices, and gaming are more cyclical. Stabilisation of PC demand and gaming engagement remain secondary sources of revenue but are still noteworthy.
Artificial intelligence
Approaches around the monetisation of Microsoft’s AI play are still developing. Trends in enrolment and infrastructure cost are expected to be key factors.
What happened last quarter
Microsoft reported results ahead of consensus, supported by steady cloud demand and resilient enterprise software revenues.
Azure and other cloud services' growth remained a central focus, alongside commentary on AI-related investment and capacity.
Last earnings key highlights:
- Revenue: US$77.7 billion
- Earnings per share (EPS): US$3.72 (GAAP) and US$4.13 (non-GAAP adjusted)
- Intelligent Cloud revenue: US$30.9 billion
- Azure and other cloud services: up 40% year on year
- Operating income: US$38.0 billion
How the market reacted last time
Microsoft shares fell in after-hours trading following the release, despite the beating of headline numbers, as investors focused on AI investment intensity, capacity constraints and related implications for future margins.
What’s expected this quarter
Bloomberg consensus points to continued revenue growth led by cloud services, alongside broadly stable margins despite elevated capex.
Bloomberg consensus reference points (January 2026):
- Revenue: about US$68 to US$69 billion
- EPS: about US$3.10 to US$3.20 (adjusted)
- Azure growth: mid-to-high 20% year on year (YoY) (constant currency)
- Operating margin: expected to remain broadly stable
- Capex: expected to remain elevated, reflecting AI and cloud build-out
*All above points observed as of 16 January 2026.
Expectations
Sentiment appears cautious. Microsoft can remain sensitive to any cloud, margin, or guidance disappointment, particularly where investors interpret investment intensity as open-ended.
Price action traded within an established range of US$472 and US$490 recently, but has moved below this in the last week.
Listed options were pricing an indicative move of around ±2% based on near-dated options expiring after 28 January and an at-the-money options-implied ‘expected move’ estimate.
Implied volatility was about 33.5% annualised into the event as observed on Barchart at 11:00 AEDT on 16th January 2026.
These are market-implied estimates and may change; actual post-earnings moves can be larger or smaller.
What this means for Australian traders
Microsoft’s earnings may influence near-term sentiment across US technology indices, particularly the Nasdaq, with potential spillover into global equity risk appetite and, in turn, the ASX.
As a major technology stock, and with Tesla (TSLA) also scheduled to report after the US close on the same day, volatility in Nasdaq-linked products may increase while futures markets remain open.
Important risk note
Immediately after the US close and into the early Asia session, Nasdaq 100 (NDX) futures and related CFD pricing can reflect thinner liquidity, wider spreads, and sharper repricing around new information.
Such an environment can increase gap risk and execution uncertainty relative to regular-hours conditions.


US food company, General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS), reported its latest financial results for second quarter of fiscal 2024 before the US open on Wednesday. Revenue reached $5.139 billion for the quarter, falling short of analyst estimate of $5.354 billion. Revenue was down by 2% year-over-year.
Earnings per share (EPS) reported at $1.25 per share vs. $1.156 per share expected. EPS was up by 14% vs. the same period the year prior. Company overview Founded: June 20, 1928 Headquarters: Golden Valley, Minnesota, United States Number of employees: 32,500 (2022) Industry: Food processing Key people: Jeffrey Harmening (Chairman and CEO) CEO commentary "While we saw a slower-than-expected volume recovery in the second quarter amid a continued challenging consumer landscape, we generated bottom-line growth thanks primarily to strong HMM cost savings," CEO of General Mills, Jeffrey Harmening, highlighted the challenges the company faced in the quarter. "We’re adapting our plans to the evolving consumer environment and staying focused on driving long-term growth, with a priority on winning through innovation, brand building, and in-store execution.
At the same time, we’re stepping up our HMM performance and further eliminating disruption-related costs in the supply chain. For the full year, we’ve revised our topline outlook to account for a slower volume recovery, narrowed our profit and EPS expectations within our original guidance ranges, and maintained our outlook for strong free cash flow conversion," Harmening added. Stock reaction Shares of General Mills were down by around 3% on Wednesday after the latest earnings report.
Stock performance 1 month: -0.25% 3 months: -1.76% Year-to-date: -22.83% 1 year: -24.19% General Mills stock price targets Piper Sandler: $76 Evercore ISI: $72 HSBC: $74 Royal Bank of Canada: $76 Morgan Stanley: $58 Mizuho: $70 Goldman Sachs: $61 JP Morgan: $61 TD Cowen: $70 Deutsche Bank: $77 Wells Fargo: $70 General Mills Inc. is the 487th largest company in the world with a market cap of $37.64 billion. You can trade General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX and ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD. GO Markets now offers pre-market and after-market trading on popular US Share CFDs.
Trade the pre-market session: 4:00am to 9:30am, normal session, and after-market session: 4:00pm to 8:00pm, Eastern Standard Time. Why trade during extended hours? Volatility never sleeps.
Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: General Mills Inc., TradingView, MarketWatch, Benzinga, CompaniesMarketCap


The World's second largest courier company, FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX), released its latest financial results for second quarter of fiscal year 2024 after the market closed in the US on Tuesday. The US company fell short of estimates for both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Revenue reached $22.2 billion vs. $22.356 billion expected.
Revenue was down by 2.6% vs. the same period a year prior. EPS reported at $3.99 per share (up by 25.47% year-over-year) vs. $4.194 per share estimate. Company overview Founded: May 5, 1971 Headquarters: Memphis, Tennessee, United States Number of employees: 520,000 (2023) Industry: E-commerce, services, transportation Key people: Frederick W.
Smith (Executive Chairman), Raj Subramaniam (President and CEO) CEO commentary 'FedEx has delivered an unprecedented two consecutive quarters of operating income growth and margin expansion even with lower revenue, clear evidence of the progress we are making on our transformation as we navigate an uncertain demand environment,'' Raj Subramaniam, CEO of FedEx, said in a press release. 'We are moving with speed to make our network more efficient while delivering outstanding service to our customers through the peak season with the fastest Ground network in the industry. I am confident in our strategy as we make our global network more flexible, efficient, and intelligent,' Subramaniam concluded. Stock reaction Shares were down by 0.68% at the end of trading on Tuesday at $280 a share.
The stock price plummeted by around 7% in the after-hours trading as results were announced. Stock performance 1 month: +9.43% 3 months: +12% Year-to-date: +61.66% 1 year: +70.37% FedEx stock price targets TD Cowen: $293 Stifel Nicolaus: $285 Susquehanna: $315 HSBC: $330 Loop Capital: $275 BMO Capital Markets: $290 Deutsche Bank: $295 Citigroup: $300 Wells Fargo: $280 Bank of America: $330 UBS Group: $323 Morgan Stanley: $205 FedEx Corporation is the 231st largest company in the world with a market cap of $70.39 billion. You can trade FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX and ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD.
GO Markets now offers pre-market and after-market trading on popular US Share CFDs. Trade the pre-market session: 4:00am to 9:30am, normal session, and after-market session: 4:00pm to 8:00pm, Eastern Standard Time. Why trade during extended hours?
Volatility never sleeps. Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: FedEx Corporation, TradingView, MarketWatch, Benzinga, CompaniesMarketCap


USD was offered in Tuesdays session, with the US Dollar Index (DXY) printing a low of 102.060 ahead of the last major economic release for the year in Fridays Core PCE reading. Hawkish leaning comments from the Feds Bostic that he only sees two Fed rate cuts in 2024, less than the Fed median of three and well under the market pricing of six, failing to lend much support to the greenback. JPY was the obvious FX underperformer, seeing USDJPY hit a high of 144.95, just failing to breach the psychological 145.00 level before retracing somewhat.
JPY took a hit on the BoJ meeting where the central bank stood pat and unanimously left its rates and YCC unchanged. There was some pricing in on this pair of a hawkish surprise from the BoJ which didn’t materialise. AUD and NZD were the G10 outperformers.
AUDUSD benefitting from improved risk sentiment and the December RBA Minutes which suggested the Board considered whether to hike by 25bps or keep rates steady, NZDUSD caught a tailwind from upbeat NZ trade data. CAD strengthened on the hotter-than-expected inflation data, where the year on year figure came in at 3.4% a beat of the expected 3.3%. CAD also receiving support from a rally in crude oil prices on the back of Red Sea tensions affecting oil transportation.
USDCAD dropping to 5-month lows and seeing the daily RSI move into extreme oversold territory.


The US Dollar has continued its year end decline after the holiday break in thin volume. Traders still holding onto the view of a dovish Fed come 2024 seeing yields also drop creating a headwind for the Greenback. AUDUSD The Aussie pushed has pushed higher this week, taking advantage of a weak USD and a risk on environment.
AUDUSD breaking the resistance and key psychological level of 0.68 in Tuesday’s session and entering the Resistance zone from 0.6800 -0.6900 where rallies have faltered previously in 2023. The AU 10 and US 10 yield differential has also found some resistance at its current level and could temper further gains in this pair, AUDUSD looking like it has got a little ahead of itself at these levels. XAUUSD Gold also continued to grind higher in thin holiday volume, a weak USD and falling yields making the non-yielding asset look more attractive to speculators.
XAUUSD trading at the key level of 2070 USD an ounce that gold traders should be keeping a close eye on. The last time XAUUSD broke this level was December 4 when a surge in price saw gold hit all-time highs. Currently XAUUSD has found resistance here and attempts to breach have been rejected, a push through could see another run to re-test those highs, a hold of the resistance and a leg lower in XAUUSD looks likely.


FX markets enter the new year with a continuing backdrop of a weaker USD as traders bet on a Fed pivot in the first half of the year. That narrative could be tested later in the week with some key US manufacturing and employment data, including the monthly Non-farm payrolls. Key levels look to be tested this week in different FX pairs with AUDUSD and Gold both being interesting examples.
AUDUSD – Gone too far, too fast? AUSUSD has had a stellar run since late October, benefitting from the risk-on environment and following equity markets higher. A weaker USD and falling US yields as traders’ position for a Fed pivot also being a strong tailwind.
AUDUSD is now sitting in the 2023 “resistance zone” where upward momentum has faltered previously. Also of note is an extreme overbought signal from the daily RSI and a growing gap between the AUDUSD price and the AU 10-year - US 10-year yield differential. Combined, these three factors could see AUDUSD upside capped for now, this week’s Non-Farm payroll will be the main figure to watch, a strong report could see traders pare back somewhat on their Fed pivot bets, pushing this pair lower.
XAUUSD – Gold XAUUSD broke the resistance level at 2070 USD an ounce, but the bulls were unable to establish it as support and the gold price quickly retraced back below. Currently XAUSD is again flirting with this key level, where the bulls and the bears have been fighting it out. 2070 remains the level to watch this week, with US data that could certainly move yields and the USD, another push through and a hold as support could see gold make another attempt at all-time highs, a hold as resistance and the gold bull run could be over for now.


American company that specializes in the manufacturing and sale of workwear and uniforms, Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS), announced the latest financial results before the opening bell in Wall Street on Thursday. Cintas reported revenue of $2.377 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 vs. $2.341 billion expected. Revenue was up by 9.3% year-over-year.
Earnings per share (EPS) reached $3.61 per share, also topping analyst estimate of $3.489 per share. EPS was up by 15.7% vs. the same period last year. Company overview Founded: 1929 Headquarters: Mason, Ohio, United States Number of employees: 44,500 (2023) Industry: Service Key people: Todd Schneider (CEO), Scott D.
Farmer (Executive Chairman), Mike Thompson (Executive Vice President and CAO) CEO commentary "We are pleased with our second quarter fiscal 2024 financial results. Each of our operating segments continue to execute at a high level, leading to robust revenue growth of 9.3%, high operating margin of 21.0% and diluted EPS growth of 15.7%. This strong execution is the result of the exceptional dedication of our employee-partners.
Whether it's image, safety, cleanliness or compliance, we have innovative products and services to help businesses across North America stay focused on the work that matters most," CEO of Cintas, Todd Schneider, said in a letter to shareholders. Schneider also announced that the company is raising its financial guidance for the full fiscal year: "We are increasing our full fiscal year financial guidance. We are raising our annual revenue expectations from a range of $9.40 billion to $9.52 billion to a range of $9.48 billion to $9.56 billion and our diluted EPS from a range of $14.00 to $14.45 to a range of $14.35 to $14.65." Stock reaction The latest results had a very positive impact on the stock price on Thursday.
Shares were up by over 4%, trading at $580.77 a share – the highest ever level. Stock performance 1 month: +5.48% 3 months: +16.02% Year-to-date: +29.58% 1 year: +29.33% Cintas stock price targets Deutsche Bank: $590 Truist Financial: $625 Citigroup: $530 Robert W. Baird: $540 Bank of America: $565 Stifel Nicolaus: $526 Royal Bank of Canada: $525 Barclays: $550 Wells Fargo: $500 UBS Group: $575 JP Morgan: $540 Morgan Stanley: $441 Cintas Corporation is the 288th largest company in the world with a market cap of $59.75 billion.
You can trade Cintas Corporation and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX and ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD. GO Markets now offers pre-market and after-market trading on popular US Share CFDs. Trade the pre-market session: 4:00am to 9:30am, normal session, and after-market session: 4:00pm to 8:00pm, Eastern Standard Time.
Why trade during extended hours? Volatility never sleeps. Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: Cintas Corporation, TradingView, MarketWatch, Benzinga, CompaniesMarketCap