NEW YORK — Investors sold technology shares and Asian markets slid Thursday after Alphabet Inc. projected a sharp jump in capital spending for 2026, Feb. 5, 2026. Traders said the Alphabet capex outlook revived doubts about AI payoffs, while gold slipped below $5,000 an ounce as Europe braced for interest-rate signals from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.
Alphabet capex spooks investors already on edge
Alphabet said its 2026 capital expenditure investments are expected to total $175 billion to $185 billion, according to Alphabet’s earnings release on the SEC website. The range implies a steep acceleration from 2025, when Alphabet’s purchases of property and equipment totaled about $91.4 billion — a run rate that underscores how quickly the Alphabet capex bill has expanded as the company builds out AI computing capacity.
The guidance arrived alongside a strong finish to 2025. Alphabet reported quarterly revenue of $113.8 billion, up 18% from a year earlier, and said Google Cloud revenue jumped 48% to $17.7 billion. CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is seeing “AI investments and infrastructure drive revenue and growth across the board,” but investors focused on whether a higher Alphabet capex baseline could pressure free cash flow if demand softens or if prices for chips, power and data-center capacity stay elevated.
That unease was visible across risk assets. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.8%, while South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 3.9% and Japan’s Nikkei slid 0.7%, Reuters reported in a global markets update. Advanced Micro Devices fell 17% overnight, adding to pressure on chip and AI-adjacent names as investors reassessed how much growth is already priced into the sector.
For longer-term investors, the headline numbers also reinforced a pattern: Alphabet capex has been stepping higher with each stage of the AI buildout. In February 2025, Alphabet surprised the market with a $75 billion spending plan for 2025 (a February 2025 Reuters report), and in July 2025 it lifted that 2025 target to about $85 billion as cloud demand climbed (a July 2025 Reuters report). The new Alphabet capex range suggests the company expects the current pace to intensify, not taper.
Gold below $5,000 adds to volatility
Risk moves rippled into commodities. Gold fell 2% to about $4,862 an ounce and silver dropped 13% to roughly $75.50 an ounce in Asian trading, according to Reuters — a reminder that leveraged trades can unwind quickly when rate expectations and risk appetite shift together. The metals pullback added another layer of volatility to a session already dominated by tech repricing and heavy AI investment headlines.
Europe braces for ECB and BoE
In Europe, traders looked for clues on how long policymakers can keep rates steady if growth weakens. The ECB’s calendar lists a monetary policy meeting and press conference in Frankfurt on Feb. 5 (the ECB’s meeting schedule). The Bank of England is also due to publish its quarterly outlook and hold a press conference after release of its Monetary Policy Report (the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Report page).
For markets still digesting the Alphabet capex shock, the tone from Frankfurt and London matters almost as much as the rate decision itself. Clearer guidance on inflation risks and the path of borrowing costs could help stabilize tech valuations — or, if policymakers strike a more cautious note, deepen the recalibration that has already spread from chip stocks to currencies and commodities.
