Wall Street sinks as tech rout deepens on AI angst

Wall Street sinks as tech rout deepens on AI angst

By Sinéad Carew and Twesha Dikshit

Thu February 12, 2026 5:47 AM  

AI jitters returned to very high gear today with another huge rout that was triggered by a less than stellar Q4 update from Cisco Systems. This dent in the AI halo quickly infected the entire market and continued to aggravate nerves about the enormous AI spending going on, reported to be a whopping $650 billion by Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft alone. The huge selloff was also attributed to a continuation of yesterday’s trigger of how these huge capital expenses can possibly be recouped into profits. Tomorrow’s CPI will give a clearer picture on inflation. But the bottom line according to today’s expert, “We see this as a ‘prove it' year for AI. We need to start seeing some return on investments.” At 22.45 billion, volume was very brisk and well above the 4-week average of 20.78 billion. 

DJ: 50,121.40  -66.74         NAS: 23,066.47  -36.01         S&P: 6,941.47  -0.34               2/11

DJ: 49,451.98  -669.42       NAS: 22,597.15  -469.32       S&P: 6,832.76  -108.71           2/12

Thu 2-12-26 5:01 pm Wall Street sinks as tech rout deepens on AI angst | Reuters

Wall Street ends muted after strong jobs data nibbles at Fed rate cut bets

Wall Street ends muted after strong jobs data nibbles at Fed rate cut bets

By Sinéad Carew and Twesha Dikshit

Wed February 11, 2026  

Today’s payrolls report came in stellar, much higher than expected, establishing that the labor market is in fine shape and is good news for the economy. You would think that everyone would be buying given the nerves over the past few days of this report disappointing. Instead, it was another case of good news taken as bad news since new rate cuts may not be needed after all. Plus the new concerns regarding AI hurting software developers continues as the chip index rose 2.3% but the corresponding software index fell 2.6%. For every dollar that went into AI, a dollar was taken away from the developers.  

S&P 500, Nasdaq dip with economic data, earnings in focus

S&P 500, Nasdaq dip with economic data, earnings in focus

By Sinéad Carew and Twesha Dikshit

Tue February 10, 2026 6:12 AM  

All three indexes started the day up, the Dow way up almost 400 points, before all started declining again with tech once again seeing the heaviest losses as overinvestment concerns with AI crop up again. The Dow lost most of its ground due to a flat retail sales report vs an expected 0.4% increase, indicating that consumer spending has stalled. But what’s really going on is everyone sitting on the fence awaiting Wednesday’s jobs report and keeping a hedge in case it’s disappointing.  

Wall Street advances as tech bounces further off of recent losses

Wall Street advances as tech bounces further off of recent losses

By Sinéad Carew and Twesha Dikshit

Mon February 9, 2026 5:28 AM  

After a very short-lived early morning sell off on all three indexes, all three quickly went into the black and, though the Dow remained mostly flat all day, tech took off as recent worries about over-valuations and AI vulnerabilities seem to have gone now to the back burner as bargain hunting continues for the second day. The Dow had a modest gain but still a second consecutive closing record and the S&P closed just shy of its record. The Nasdaq remains about 3% below its record.  

Dow closes above 50,000, Nvidia soars as traders focus on AI spending

Dow closes above 50,000, Nvidia soars as traders focus on AI spending

By Noel Randewich

Fri February 6, 2026 6:33 AM  

Well, isn’t this cute? After three days of severe panic selling over anxiety over the future profitability of AI, suddenly it’s a market favorite again with all three indexes shooting way straight up right out the gate and staying there all day, the Dow with a whopping 4-digit lead and even the S&P with a 3-digit, the Nasdaq of course with a big 3-digits. As today’s expert put it, “When there’s this kind of a selloff, I think there’s a floor where there’s going to be a certain set of investors that steps in and starts buying these names.” Is this just bargain hunting that sent the Dow to a new record, breaking the formidable 50,000 and the S&P within a stone’s throw of another record? What makes no sense at all is the conditions that triggered the massive selloff are still very much in evidence.  

Wall Street ends sharply down as AI worries weigh

Wall Street ends sharply down as AI worries weigh

By Noel Randewich

Thu February 5, 2026 5:59 AM  

For the third day, serious worries about the unprecedented huge investments in AI creating doubts about whether it will translate to profits shot all three indexes way down. It was a similar pattern to the last two days with the markets tumbling drastically until 11 a.m., then recovering in the early afternoon.  Only today, instead of continuing the recovery, everything sank again with major 3-digit losses in both tech and industrials. It seems that every major tech company, after announcing even greater planned expenditures for AI, just caused a rush to the exits with the stock prices taking big hits.  

Wall Street ends down as AI worries slam tech stocks

Wall Street ends down as AI worries slam tech stocks

By Noel Randewich and Pranav Kashyap

Wed February 4, 2026 6:21 AM  

It was a second day of panic selling with mounting fears that the AI rally has not only peaked but is hurting software developers. And, like yesterday, the pattern was for a straight downward spiral on both the S&P and Nasdaq which was much worse during the day than at close. Like yesterday, they both had huge losses until about 1 pm, the Nasdaq down nearly 600, the S&P down about 80. The Dow had a much better time starting way up over 400 only to crash to zero by 1 pm. And like yesterday, after the crashes, they all recovered a large portion of their losses, tech still closing quite solidly in the red but the Dow having a nice 3-digit gain.  

Wall Street ends sharply down as traders fret about AI disruption

Wall Street ends sharply down as traders fret about AI disruption

By Noel Randewich and Twesha Dikshit

Tue February 3, 2026 6:12 AM  

Wow, what a difference a day makes, but it does point out just how skittish this market is. Just yesterday, AI was once again the darling of Wall Street with optimism abounding. Today, a great panic set in as suddenly investors are suddenly so terribly worried that AI fever may hurt software developers. The reasoning here escapes me. After all, what good is AI for if not for developing very advanced software? Why would that hurt the developers? But there you have it.  The day’s plummet was actually much worse than meets the eye with the Dow dipping almost 600 points by 2 pm and corresponding plunges on the S&P at nearly a minus 120 and the Nasdaq a minus some 560 also by 2 pm.  

S&P 500 flirts with record high; chipmakers and small caps jump

S&P 500 flirts with record high; chipmakers and small caps jump

By Noel Randewich and Pranav Kashyap

Mon February 2, 2026 6:05 AM

Ahead of Q4 reports due later this week from stalwarts Alphabet and Amazon, all the indexes shot straight up and way up and stayed there today. Recent concerns about tech overvaluations and disappointing earnings seemed to have vanished today as AI is once again in the front seat and going strong. Small caps continue to outperform tech but with AI dominating the S&P, the index is already up 2% this year with its first gains in three sessions, though the Russell is up about 6% as the rotation into small caps continues, something very much viewed as confidence in the economy.  

US stocks fall, as investors fret over Trump's Fed nominee, earnings, inflation

US stocks fall, as investors fret over Trump's Fed nominee, earnings, inflation

By Sinéad Carew and Pranav Kashyap

Fri January 30, 2026 5:27 AM  

Like yesterday, the indexes were way down during the day but at least the Dow and S&P recovered most of these losses by close. The Dow had reached a low of a minus 600 by 1 pm, the S&P down about 80.  The Nasdaq did not fare nearly as well in a straight downward spiral losing over 330 points by 1 pm.  The simple reason for this was new nerves over the nomination of Powell’s replacement, a hawk who is feared to push for more rate cuts than is healthy and push the already fragile economy into even steeper inflation.  

S&P 500, Nasdaq close down as Big Tech's soaring AI budgets trigger flight

S&P 500, Nasdaq close down as Big Tech's soaring AI budgets trigger flight

By Sinéad Carew and Pranav Kashyap

Thu January 29, 2026 7:24 AM  

Tech really took a bath today as, at least for today, investors decided the AI honeymoon was over given a new pessimism over the promise of huge AI expenditures ever turning into profits, especially with Microsoft’s disappointing Q4 report. The losses were far greater earlier in the day than at close with the Dow down almost 400 by 11 a.m., tech going much worse with the Nasdaq losing over 600 in the morning and S&P over 100. 

Nasdaq ends slightly up, S&P 500 flat as Fed brings little surprise

Nasdaq ends slightly up, S&P 500 flat as Fed brings little surprise

By Sinéad Carew and Pranav Kashyap

Wed January 28, 2026 4:58 PM  

A completely expected “no change” announcement from the Fed today resulted in very little change to the indexes though tech started quite high in the morning only to immediately decline to near break-even. Even the Dow, though mostly straddling break-even all day, had its moments at times as much as 100 down and 150 up.  The Mag7 was a mixed bag with Microsoft diving after its Q4 report but Meta rising though its positive report came in after close. The good news is that, though the Fed had intended to report that inflation was still too hot and employment still too unstable, they modified their statement that both factors were in better shape than previously thought.  

S&P 500 marks closing record as corporate earnings roll in; Medicare rates hit insurers

S&P 500 marks closing record as corporate earnings roll in; Medicare rates hit insurers

By Sinéad Carew and Pranav Kashyap

Tue January 27, 2026 5:00 PM

Tuesday saw a massive flight from industrials as the Dow sank over 400 points and an equally massive migration to tech as Nasdaq gained over 200. Hurting the Dow was a serious hit to healthcare stocks triggered by a White House proposal to raise Medicare premiums. Tech was helped by a deal with Corning getting a $6B contract to supply fiber optic cable to Meta for its AI data centers. The Mag7 companies are reporting in the next 3 days and their earnings will largely determine investor appetite for further investment.  

Wall Street indexes close higher ahead of earnings, Fed meeting

Wall Street indexes close higher ahead of earnings, Fed meeting

By Sinéad Carew and Pranav Kashyap

Mon January 26, 2026 5:00 PM

With a slew of megacap earnings coming later this week and increased optimism that the huge investments in AI will soon start translating into profits, all three indexes headed straight up today with 3-digit gains in both tech and industrials. Investors will be looking to see if the continuing concerns over high tech valuations are justified. It’s a fragile equation though. Even a slight setback could cause a big AI selloff. 

Dow ends lower, with S&P flat, as Intel's outlook weighs on risk appetite

Dow ends lower, with S&P flat, as Intel's outlook weighs on risk appetite

By David French

Fri January 23, 2026 4:56 PM

Tech was topsy-turvy and the Dow went straight south as the indexes continue to recover from Tuesday’s huge losses. Today both the Nasdaq and S&P came within a stone’s throw of recouping losses and though the Dow did recoup yesterday by a slim margin, the 285 point loss today put them back into negative territory. Thus, the week remained a loser on all counts, though only slightly so. Tech would have had a better day except for disappointing news from Intel.  

Wall Street ends up as investors buoyed by tariff relief, upbeat data

Wall Street ends up as investors buoyed by tariff relief, upbeat data

By David French

Thu January 22, 2026 4:00 PM

 

For a second day the indexes continued to ride the wave of ebullience after Trump’s U-turn yesterday on Greenland tariffs and starting to buy back the huge losses from Tuesday. Even though the Dow has now completely recovered, both the tech indexes are still a little shy of Monday’s close before the storm set in.  

Wall Street ends higher as investors cheer Greenland framework deal, averted tariffs

Wall Street ends higher as investors cheer Greenland framework deal, averted tariffs

By David French

Wed January 21, 2026 4:52 PM

After yesterday’s enormous selloff, today was a bargain hunter’s dream as all three indexes enjoyed very comfortable gains from the prior session’s huge losses. Then at 11 a.m. began a decline which lasted until 2:30 pm, at which time Trump reversed his position on the Greenland-related tariffs and the market immediately catapulted and closed having recouped a large percentage of Tuesday’s losses.  

Wall Street ends lower amid global selloff on Trump Greenland tariff threats

Wall Street ends lower amid global selloff on Trump Greenland tariff threats

By David French

Tue January 20, 2026 4:00 PM

This would have been a good day for short-sellers and nothing was more predictable. As of last evening, the forecast was for the Dow to dump 600 points due to the Greenland issue. That turned out to be optimistic as there was actually an 870 point loss and we knew there was trouble when the S&P lost 143, so very rare to lose 3-digits. The question: is this just a blip or the beginning of a long-term problem? Coming later this week will be PCE and updated Q3 GDP. There will also be a number of heavyweights coming in with Q4 reports in the next few days. Per the CBOE, trading was brisk at 20.6 billion, considerably above the 16.8 average. 

DJ: 49,359.33  -83.11         NAS: 23,515.39  -14.63          S&P: 6,940.01  -4.46               1/16

DJ: 48,488.59  -870.74       NAS: 22,954.32  -561.06        S&P: 6,796.86  -143.15           1/20

Tue 1-20-26 4:00 pm Wall Street ends lower amid global selloff on Trump Greenland tariff threats | Reuters

Wall Street ends little changed before long weekend

Wall Street ends little changed before long weekend

By Caroline Valetkevitch

Fri January 16, 2026 5:21 PM

 

All three indexes performed more or less flat today as investors sit on the fence as Q4 reporting has just gotten underway. Though the big banks are still turning in solid Q4, the sector remains haunted by the prospect, though considered unlikely to materialize, of the proposed 10% cap on credit card interest. The Dow took a bigger hit than the others as the rotation away from megacaps and into undervalued small caps continues, with the small caps index hitting still another record.  

Wall Street ends higher; banks gain following results, chips rally with TSMC

Wall Street ends higher; banks gain following results, chips rally with TSMC

By Caroline Valetkevitch

Thu January 15, 2026 4:57 PM

All it took today was a little good news from the banks and, once again the chips, to send the indexes way up again. After a few days of lackluster Q4 earnings from the banks, good results came from both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs with upbeat Q4, and chips got their boost from a blockbuster report from Taiwan’s TSMC. The rotation to undervalued small caps continues with “the banks and old-school industrials” as standouts. S&P industrials hit another record high.  

Wall Street ends lower, led by drop in Nasdaq, with tech, banks falling

Wall Street ends lower, led by drop in Nasdaq, with tech, banks falling

By Caroline Valetkevitch

Wed January 14, 2026 6:39 PM

It was a third day of the financial markets dealing with the stunning Trump proposal of a 10% cap on credit card interest with Jamie Dimon and other major bankers arguing that all it will accomplish is denying millions of consumers access to credit at all, and that will do untold damage to the economy. Bank stocks and the banking index fell again. Even Citigroup and BofA fell even though their Q4 beat expectations. Or it could be argued that after an illustrious 2025, investors are simply taking profits out of the bank stocks. All three indexes actually fell dramatically until about noon before recovering most losses by close.  

Wall Street falls with financials amid credit card rate plan concern

Wall Street falls with financials amid credit card rate plan concern

By Caroline Valetkevitch

Tue January 13, 2026 4:46 PM  

Yesterday’s credit card proposal capping interest charges at 10% has thrown the banks for a loop with another big sell off that brought both MasterCard and Visa down about 4% and the overall financial sector down 1.8%. Jamie Dimon chimed in today with a warning that the plan could “severely hurt consumers” and the overall economy while JPMorgan dropped 4.2%.  

S&P 500, Dow hit closing record highs; Walmart, tech climb

S&P 500, Dow hit closing record highs; Walmart, tech climb

By Caroline Valetkevitch

Mon January 12, 2026 4:44 PM  

With the Trump administration threatening to indict Jerome Powell, all three indexes started in the red this morning but with Walmart announcing it will switch from the Dow to Nasdaq this month, all three indexes got a nice little boost with all three closing in the green. Tech did better than the other what with Q4 forecasts for the tech sector being an astounding 26.5% year-on-year. S&P earnings overall are seen climbing some 8.8%.  

S&P 500 notches record high close driven by Broadcom, other chipmakers

S&P 500 notches record high close driven by Broadcom, other chipmakers

By Noel Randewich

Fri January 9, 2026 6:16 PM  

It was a great day overall with both industrials and tech enjoying handsome 3-digit gains as the chip sector sees AI as getting closer to showing tangible results with the index gaining 2.7% to a record high. Industrials got a boost from employment declining more than expected but accompanied by a decline in unemployment suggesting the job market was not declining too rapidly and thus not change rate cut expectations.  

Wall Street ends mixed as tech dips, defense stocks rally

Wall Street ends mixed as tech dips, defense stocks rally

By Purvi Agarwal and Noel Randewich

Thu January 8, 2026 7:10 PM

The Dow headed straight up, the Nasdaq straight down as industrials reacted to a proposed strongly beefed up defense budget and tech, though AI is still hot, still haunted by valuation fears. Trump is proposing hiking the defense budget by at least 50% sending defense stocks way up. New unemployment claims rose modestly and the overall labor demand remains sluggish. All eyes are on tomorrow’s nonfarm payrolls for more hints on Fed rate policy for the coming year. Volume was heavy at 16.9 billion, passing the 16.3 average. 

DJ: 48,996.08  -466.00        NAS: 23,584.28  +37.10       S&P: 6,920.93  -23.89             1/7

DJ: 49,266.11  +270.03       NAS: 23,480.02  -104.26      S&P: 6,921.45  +0.53               1/8

Thu 1-8-26 7:10 pm Wall Street ends mixed as tech dips, defense stocks rally | Reuters

S&P 500 ends lower, AI stocks buoy Nasdaq

S&P 500 ends lower, AI stocks buoy Nasdaq

By Noel Randewich

Wed January 7, 2026 4:31 PM

Tech had a pretty good morning but a lousy afternoon. The Nasdaq was up almost 200 before starting an afternoon tumble and barely breaking even with the S&P in negative digits and the Dow down big. The possible triggers were an anemic jobs report which failed to budge the meter on future rate cuts.  

Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures trade flat with jobs data set to test early 2026 rally  --  Yahoo Finance  1/6/26 Tue

It is past midnight and I’m afraid I just got home being out all day and eve on business and pleasure, opportunities that don’t very frequently come my way so I had a day of much enjoyed R&R. I say this only to remind everyone that the daily market reports come out around 4:30 each day but by 8 pm more or less vanish. I was able to find something on Yahoo Finance but it’s never as nearly as complete as my usual source, Reuters. However, the charts did show that, after a brief hiccup in the morning, all three indexes had a surge after 11 a.m. with 3-digit gains all around and another especially huge gain on the Dow.  This was explained in the Yahoo report as being triggered by investors more or less ignoring the geopolitical concerns raised by Venezuela and holding on to hopes that the labor reports due later this week will provide the wanted justification for more rate cuts. I am able to provide the closing numbers below as usual and, per the CBOE, volume coming in once again at a whopping 19.2 billion vs the 15.9 billion average. DJ:          48,977.18  +594.79                 NAS:       23,395.82  +160.19                 S&P:       6,902.05  +43.58                     1/5    DJ:          49,462.08  +484.90                 NAS:       23,547.17  +151.35                 S&P:       6,944.82  +42.77                     1/6  (Okay, now I know why I never use Yahoo Finance.  The formatting is always so f'd up!)

Now I remember why I never use Yahoo Finance.  Their formatting is always all f'd up!  

Dow hits record, energy stocks end higher after US strikes Venezuela

Dow hits record, energy stocks end higher after US strikes Venezuela

By Noel Randewich

Mon January 5, 2026 5:09 PM  

For the first day of the first trading week of the new year investors reacted with great enthusiasm to this past weekend’s military operation in Venezuela as giving U.S. oil producers access to the world’s largest oil reserves. The energy index jumped a whopping 2.7% as major players Exxon Mobil and Chevron both surged. Obviously the whole defense sector got a major boost as well with the defense index reaching a record high. The banks are also very much back in favor too as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase also hit records with investors now seeing financials as an attractive alternative to tech.  

Dow closes higher on first day of 2026, still no Santa Claus rally

Dow closes higher on first day of 2026, still no Santa Claus rally

By Saeed Azhar, Purvi Agarwal and Nikhil Sharma

Fri January 2, 2026 4:33 PM  

Tech started well in the black this morning but then began an almost immediate pullback spending most of the rest of the session modestly in the red. Industrials on the other hand started in the red and quickly catapulted into the black, the Dow closing with a handsome 3-digit gain while the other two basically just broke even. The Santa Claus Rally has more or less been declared dead after having a first few very good days, But uncertainty over the economy and the future of AI put a damper on it this year, though ironically today in particular was a very good day for AI, chips being up 4%.