Stock Market Today, Jan. 12: Markets Dip on DOJ Powell Probe, Rebound With Alphabet

Market Performance - The S&P 500 rose 0.15% to 6,976.71, the Nasdaq Composite added 0.26% to 23,733.90, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.17% to 49,590.19 as markets rebounded from an early DOJ-Fed shock [1] Company Highlights - Alphabet's valuation reached $4 trillion, stabilizing mega-cap tech stocks despite policy jitters [2] - JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and American Express lagged due to absorbing Fed and regulatory headline risk [2] - Alphabet established itself as the second-largest company in the world following its market capitalization milestone [4] Investor Insights - The market initially opened down nearly 1% after the DOJ opened a criminal investigation into Fed chair Jerome Powell, and President Trump proposed a "10% cap" on credit card interest rates [3] - Financial stocks, particularly credit card companies, were negatively impacted by the volatile news, while gold prices increased nearly 2%, marking a 73% rise over the last year [3] Strategic Partnerships - Alphabet partnered with Walmart, Wayfair, and Shopify to enable AI-powered shopping through its Gemini AI platform [6] - The company also partnered with Walmart to expand drone deliveries via its Wing subsidiary [6] - Apple selected Alphabet to power the next version of Siri using its Gemini AI models [6]