Stock Market Today, Jan. 20: Nasdaq, S&P 500 fall 2% as Trump’s Greenland threats ignite drama with Europe
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Happy Monday. This is TheStreet’s Stock Market Today for Jan. 20, 2026. You can follow the latest updates on the market here in our daily live blog.
Update: 4:22 p.m. ET
Netflix Earnings Beat Estimates, Slide Anyways
In a busy day for financial earnings, streaming giant Netflix might be the odd one out, but its results bested expectations in its holiday quarter, with revenues coming in at $12.1 billion and subscribers growing to $325 million.
Helping the company scoot across the line was a 10% monthly viewership jump in December, coinciding with the final season of "Stranger Things", two NFL games, and other big releases.
However, despite the strength, Netflix stock fell by over 4% after the after hours report. Key to the decline seems to be back-and-forth over the company's proposed $82.7 billion takeover of competitor Warner Bros. Discovery.
Update: 4:08 p.m. ET
Closing Bell
The U.S. markets are now closed. (Thankfully.)
The Nasdaq (-2.39%) and S&P 500(-2.09%) fell over two percent today, plummeting as a risk-off across assets hammered the market. The indexes ended out the day at 22,954.30 and 6796.86, falling below the 23K and 6.8K mark.
Geopolitical sparring over Greenland was the culprit, with virtually every sector except consumer defensive and health care ending out the day hammered. Here's the S&P 500's closing performances for the day:
The Dow (-1.76%) wasn't much better off, declining 870.74 points to 48,488.60. Just eight stocks in the 30-strong index were in the green today.
With these legs lower, all three large cap indexes have swung into the negative on the year, erasing 2026's modest start.
And while things weren't significantly better for small caps, at least the Russell 2000 (-1.20%) decline was more modest by contrast. Plus, it remains up on the year.
All in all, a surprising 70.9% (3,911) U.S. issues declined against 26.4% (1,455) that advanced. It also marks the worst session for U.S. stocks since last April's tariff meltdown.
Update: 1:30 p.m. ET
Midday Update
Hurtling past midday, 65.8% (3,627) U.S. issues are in decline against 32.2% (1,773) that are advancing. In fact, come 1:30 p.m., U.S. equity benchmarks are now at their session lows.
The Nasdaq (-2.04%) is off more than two percent, while the S&P 500 (-1.82%) isn't far behind. Here's the S&P 500, which is now leaning towards falling out of the 6.8K territory:
The Dow (-1.65%) isn't behind the Nasdaq and S&P 500, down more than 820 points as President Donald Trump begins his afternoon press briefing.
The Russell 2000 (-1.01%) is in the best shape, which isn't really any surprise; it has been the best-situated index all year, besting the large cap indexes. Today, it's awash with red, though.
Midday Movers
Naturally, there could be even more fireworks as Trump's press briefing begins in just a few minutes' time. However, in search of today's biggest single-stock stories, we look at the top and bottom 20 stocks with at least a $2 billion market cap on our Midday Movers list:
Winners
Losers
Update: 9:30 a.m. ET
Opening Bell
The U.S. stock market is now open. As expected, this morning's declines are pretty hefty.
Out of the gate, the Nasdaq Composite (-1.66%) is down over one and a half percentage points, while the Dow (-1.51%), Russell 2000 (-1.50%), and S&P 500 (-1.38%) aren't doing much better.
The declines come after a weekend exchange of words over President Donald Trump's proposed takeout of Greenland. The semi-autonomous Danish territory is not for sale, but the U.S. leader has threatened to seize the territory, reaching a "red line" for Europe, according to German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil.
Many EU countries have already dispatched troops, took steps to suspend the EU's proposed trade deal with the U.S., and floated possible responses.
Treasury Troubles
The move has also impacted the fixed income and commodity markets. U.S. Treasurys yields are now above the levels that they were at when the Federal Reserve began cutting rates late last year. Today, the 10Y Treasury is up 5.6 bips to 4.287%. The 20Y and 30Y are up 8.8 and 8.3% bips to 4.88% and 4.923%, which are some big leaps.
One of the acute concerns right now is that the President's newfound interest in colonialism could prompt a flight from U.S. assets, including Treasurys. Further, the U.S's moves could marginalize the U.S. on the global stage, possibly threatening its reserve currency status as well.
Continuous futures for gold (+3.29% to $4,746.80) and silver (+6.77% to $94.53) both rose, along with WTI natural gas (+15.46% to $3.115) and WTI Crude oil (+1.88% to $60.56).
The Cboe Volatility Index is up 8% at 20.35.
S&P Now Down YTD
Notably, this decline puts the S&P 500 in the red on the year, erasing an otherwise strong start to 2026. Here is a look at the S&P 500 heat map at the open (15 min delayed):
Update: 8:34 a.m. ET
A.M. Update
Good morning. Traders might have enjoyed the long weekend, but some spent their day off simply bracing for today.
As futures went live on Sunday evening, U.S. equity futures were already in free fall. At the same time, U.S. Treasury yields climbed to levels not seen since Sept. 2025, before the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates.
Threats on Greenland are to blame. Investors, who were already processing a recent U.S. incursion in Venezuela and preparing for a Supreme Court decision on the legality of Trump's tariffs, are now processing even more tense matters --- not just on markets, but globally.
Today might be just the opening innings of the fallout as the escalation of Trump's imperial ambitions now threatens a myriad of new problems. The threat on Greenland, a territory of Denmark, has led European leaders to punt on a U.S-E.U. trade deal, while also weighing financial countermeasures against the U.S.
And aside from implications for the market, Trump's rhetoric threatens to disrupt long-term consequences to U.S. relations abroad, including with NATO and EU allies.
Earnings Today: Netflix, 3M, U.S. Bancorp
The Greenland drama comes just in time for a ramp-up in earnings reports. Here are today's top 20 earnings reports sorted by market cap:
Economic Events + Data
Here are today's economic events and data releases:
