Shake it off is what the stock market did about mega-cap Alphabet's slide, to end higher on Wednesday.

Google parent Alphabet beat quarterly earnings estimates after Tuesday's close, but its overall sales and Google Cloud revenue both were weaker than analysts' forecasts. However, the tech giant said it would spend more than Wall Street expected on AI. Alphabet shares ended down more than 7%, but investors quickly pivoted to other AI-related shares to pick up some slack.

Super Micro Computer and Nvidia shares jumped after server maker Super Micro announced full production availability of its AI data center based on Nvidia chips. Super Micro closed up 8% and Nvidia was 5.35% higher.

The Nasdaq ended up 0.19%, or 38.31 points, to 19,692.33; the broad S&P 500 rose 0.39%, or 23.6 points, to 6,061.48; and the blue-chip Dow added 0.71%, or 317.24 points, to 44,873.28. Gold prices topped $2,900 an ounce for the first time ever. The benchmark 10-year yield fell to 4.428%.

Treasury yields dropped after the Treasury Department said auction sizes, or Treasury supplies, are expected to be unchanged “for at least the next several quarters." That boosted prices on Treasuries, which pushed yields lower. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.

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Alphabet's AI worries

Alphabet raised its AI spending forecast, but some analysts are still concerned about how these big-spending companies can monetize AI, especially after China's DeepSeek said last week it had built an AI model rivalling ChatGPT and OpenAI at a fraction of the cost.

"In a period when we have seen AI supposedly become less capital intensive with the introduction of DeepSeek, Alphabet has committed a 43% increase in capital expenditure for 2025," said Ben Barringer, technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, an investment management company. "This is great news for the likes of Nvidia, but for Alphabet we are yet to see a real return on investment on AI spend, so there is a risk that it could be money not being well spent and disappear into a virtual black hole."

Additionally, Alphabet's weak growth in its cloud business sparks "worry that the company is falling behind slightly in the AI arms race that continues apace," Barringer said.

Online retail giant Amazon is slated to report earnings on Thursday, and investors will be scrutinizing its AI plans.

Investors have options

Despite ups and downs, company results halfway through this earnings season have been generally strong, which help keep the stock market buoyed, analysts said.

"For the companies that have reported so far fourth-quarter earnings have come in 5.5% above expectations at the start of the season on January 13," Bank of America analysts wrote in a report. "That's higher than the 2.5% surprise in third quarter and 3.7% pre-COVID average. Similarly, revenue surprise of 0.9% was also stronger than 0.7% in third quarter and the 0.7% pre-COVID average."

Because of this, investors have options, analysts said. "Investors are not engaging in widespread selling," said Jochen Stanzl, Chief Market Analyst at UK-based trading platform CMC Markets. "Instead, they are selectively offloading stocks that are directly affected. This approach is bolstered by the increased market breadth witnessed in January."

Deutsche Bank economists also noted "one of the strongest arguments for elevated U.S. equity valuations today is that we're in an era of high corporate profits relative to GDP (gross domestic product)," or economic growth.

Corporate news

Major movers on Wednesday included:

• Ride-share firm Uber's quarterly operating income significantly undershot expectations, pushing the stock down 7.56%
• Chip company AMD said its data center revenue, a proxy for AI sales, fell short of expectations in the last three months of the year and it expected current quarter sales to drop 7% from that. AMD shares lost 6.27%.
• Apple stock dipped 0.14% after Bloomberg News reported that China's antitrust regulator was preparing for a possible investigation of the iPhone maker.
• Chipotle beat earnings expectations in the last few months of the year but its same-store sales were lower than Wall Street predictions. It also cut its sales outlook for the year. Shares of the fast casual burrito chain dropped 2.56%.
• Electronic Arts topped earnings estimates, and the software maker's shares added 7.6%.
• Entertainment company Disney beat earnings forecasts but subscribers to its Disney+ streaming channel slipped and is forecast to fall further in the current three-month period. Disney shares lost 2.44%.
• Social media company Snap surprised analysts with a profit and higher-than-expected sales but provided a disappointing earnings outlook. Its shares tanked 8.36%.
• Match, parent of the Tinder dating app, replaced its chief executive and reported an earnings miss. Match shares shed almost 8%.
• Mattel's shares jumped 15.33% and scored a new 52-week high after the toy maker forecast strong earnings this year on demand for Barbie dolls.
• Ford said after the market closed it topped quarterly earnings estimates but expected a tough year. Shares slipped about 1.5% in after-hours trading.
• Qualcomm said it beat analysts' earnings expectations in the first three months of its fiscal year and predicted its current quarter could too. Its stock added 1.63% in after-hours trading.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin edged up after David Sacks, the newly appointed White House AI and crypto czar, said one of his first focuses will be developing a regulatory framework for stablecoins. He thinks legislation will get passed in the next six months.

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to a real-world asset, such as the U.S. dollar.

He also told CNBC on Tuesday his new task force is evaluating and considering“the feasibility of a bitcoin reserve,” which President Donald Trump suggested during his campaign.

Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday it's soliciting input from the public to discuss cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin was last down 0.72% at $97,286.84.

Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected] and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.