Kim Kahn

Shell reports Thursday, and Friday wraps with Toyota and Philip Morris.

In the news this weekend, Bitcoin slipped below $80,000, the lowest level since April 2025, marking its fourth straight monthly drop.

The total crypto market is down about 4%, below $2.8 trillion, while Bitcoin has slipped behind Tesla to become the world's 12th largest asset by market cap, according to CoinGecko.

But with a strong buy rating, Seeking Alpha investing group leader James Ford remains bullish.

Ultimately, I think we could very well see rotation into Bitcoin, he said.

It's happened before, there are fundamental reasons to support this, and technicals also line up.

And for income investors, Citigroup goes ex-dividend Monday, paying out February 27th.

MetLife goes ex-dividend Tuesday, with a March 10th payout date.

And Valera goes ex-dividend on Thursday, paying out March 9th.

Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon.

Today is Thursday, January 29th, and I'm your host, Kim Kahn.

Our top story so far.

Software struggles are getting hardcore.

The sector is selling off sharply, taking tech and the broader market down with it.

The iShares Expanded Tech Software ETF, ticker symbol IGV, is down more than 5%, a drop we haven't seen since Tariff Liberation Day.

That's dragged down the NASDAQ, while Bitcoin, gold, and silver also saw simultaneous selling.

All those asset classes are now off their lows, though.

At the coalface of the software slump is Microsoft, which you heard on Wall Street Breakfast was sinking despite solid, if unspectacular, quarterly results.

Selling has ramped up through the session, with the stock off about 12%, on track for the seventh worst decline in its history.