Big tech in the spotlight for the Nasdaq 100 after the closing bell

The Nasdaq 100 will shortly reopen for live trading and ahead of that the Nasdaq 100 futures are slightly in the red this afternoon. As noted here earlier this morning, the Nasdaq 100 failed to push to a new record yesterday, when it topped out at 17,603 and subsequently closed at 17,596. No matter what happens to the index this afternoon, it could be after the closing bell this evening that matters more. That is because at 9.00pm GMT we will get Q4 earnings from Alphabet (GOOGL) and then at 9.05pm GMT from Microsoft (MSFT). Microsoft is the top weighted stock in the Nasdaq 100 by weight and Alphabet is ranked no.7. So, by weight these two can have a big impact on the Nasdaq 100 futures after the closing bell. I will be on hand at 9pm GMT to offer a brief update or two, depending on what emerges here this evening. Meantime, the Nasdaq 100 is currently priced to reopen at around 17,543