NEW YORK, Feb 6, 2026, 10:15 ET — Regular session
U.S. stocks climbed early Friday despite a tough week for tech. Amazon.com shares, however, dropped sharply as investors digested the company’s increased spending on artificial intelligence.
The bounce isn’t a straightforward “risk-on” surge. Traders are recalibrating for a fresh chapter in the AI race, where the largest cloud companies invest heavily upfront, prompting investors to scrutinize returns and margins more closely.
Selling has now spread beyond the mega-caps to software and data-services stocks once hailed as AI frontrunners. The S&P 500 fell into the red for the year on Thursday, weighed down by weak layoffs data and mounting AI concerns. 1
At 09:30 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.62% to 49,212.43. The S&P 500 followed with a 0.50% rise, reaching 6,832.11, while the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.35% to 22,618.76. Index ETFs maintained gains by mid-morning, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF up roughly 1% and the Invesco QQQ just shy of 1%. 2
Amazon (AMZN.O) tumbled to around $202.6, shedding nearly 9% in a single session following its announcement of a $200 billion capital expenditure plan for the year. Capex refers to funds companies invest in long-term assets such as data centers and servers. 3
Some analysts noted the market wasn’t rattled by higher spending itself, but by its scale. “The magnitude of the spend is materially greater than consensus expected,” wrote MoffettNathanson analysts. Meanwhile, CEO Andy Jassy told analysts that “AWS is a much larger business” than competitors as he defended the cloud division’s rapid growth. 3
Amazon’s announcement came after Alphabet made a comparable AI investment, pushing the total projected spend to roughly $600 billion by 2026. Carlota Estragues Lopez, equity strategist at St. James’s Place, noted, “Headlines that would have pushed shares to fresh highs during the peak of AI optimism are now being interpreted far more cautiously by investors.” 4
Chip stocks found some footing after a tough week. Nvidia climbed roughly 5%, AMD rose over 5%, and Microsoft nudged up slightly. Alphabet, however, slipped around 2%.
Earlier this week, sentiment took a hit. The PHLX semiconductor index dropped 4.4% on Wednesday, with AMD sinking 17% after a forecast that left investors unimpressed. Argent Capital’s Jed Ellerbroek noted the market had grown “suddenly skeptical and concerned” about how to value the AI future. 5
Labor headlines are weighing on the tape as layoffs by U.S. employers jumped 205% in January, hitting 108,435, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. UPS and Amazon were among the top contributors. “It means most of these plans were set at the end of 2025,” said workplace expert Andy Challenger. 6
The week ahead will bring key data releases. January’s nonfarm payrolls report lands Wednesday, Feb. 11, followed by the consumer price index on Friday, Feb. 13—both delayed by a brief government shutdown. Economists surveyed by Reuters expect payrolls to rise by about 70,000. Edward Jones strategist Angelo Kourkafas noted that “rotation is the dominant theme” this year, with investors shifting away from tech toward out-of-favor sectors. 7
A hot inflation report or another wave of heavy-spending forecasts could derail the rebound, particularly if capex growth continues to outpace sales at major firms. Traders are keeping an eye on Amazon’s stability and whether the software selloff loses momentum.
After the data, investors will zero in on earnings from Cisco Systems, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s as the season wraps up. Market watchers want to see if AI investments are translating into lasting profits—or just higher costs.
