Katie Dayton

But this week, something shifted.

Meta reported record quarterly sales and saw its stock price climb.

But it was a different story for Microsoft.

Here to break it down for us is WSJ Heard on the Street columnist Dan Gallagher.

So Dan, earlier this week, we had earnings reports from Meta and Microsoft that both slightly exceeded Wall Street's expectations for their December-ended quarter.

But the markets reacted very differently to each company.

What happened?

And what about Microsoft?

I'd love to hold these two stocks up against Alphabet, which has seen a huge boost to its share price in the last six months.

Why is the Google firm outperforming Meta and Microsoft to such an extent?

That was WSJ columnist Dan Gallagher.

Which company's results are surprising you this earnings season?

If you're a listener on Spotify, leave us a comment with your thoughts.

Coming up, your obsolete tech may be worth more to the US than you'd expect.

We're breaking down why.

That's after the break.

Rare earth metals, elements that power a ton of the modern gadgets we use every day, usually come from China.

The country mines three-fifths of the world's metals and has more than 90% of the world's capacity for refining them.

That's not usually a problem.

But as geopolitical tensions ramp up between China and the U.S., unfettered access to rare earth metals is no longer guaranteed.