NEW YORK, Feb 25, 2026, 03:09 (EST)
Asian shares tracked higher Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei surging 2.2% to 58,583.12. U.S. stocks recovered from a tech slump, the S&P 500 adding 0.8% to 6,890.07, while the Dow tacked on 370 points to 49,174.50. Dow futures showed little movement as investors looked ahead to Nvidia’s results due after the bell. (AP News)
This week’s moves have circled around a single question: are AI innovations going to juice profits, or wipe them out? Traders have been quick to dump shares exposed to automation — what’s being dubbed on some trading desks as the “AI scare trade,” triggered by anxiety that AI could cut into swathes of software and services revenue. Then, as headlines cooled, buyers snapped stocks right back. “It’s a relief rally after broad-based, indiscriminate selling,” said Ritesh Ganeriwal, head of investment at Syfe in Singapore. (SWI swissinfo.ch)
Chips and beaten-down software names drove Tuesday’s bounce on Wall Street, sending the Dow ahead 0.76%, the S&P 500 by 0.77%, and the Nasdaq 1.05% higher. Anthropic’s latest plug-in rollout gave a jolt to its partners—shares of U.S.-listed Thomson Reuters surged 11.5%, FactSet gained 5.9%, and Salesforce rose 4.1%. “It’s still early on in the process,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. (Reuters)
Anthropic rolled out 10 fresh plug-ins aimed at enterprise users, just weeks after a legal-focused plug-in debut triggered a steep drop in software and services stocks. These new integrations—developed with help from partners such as LSEG, FactSet, Slack, and DocuSign—allow Claude AI to tap into tools like Gmail and Google Calendar. “It’s not a product that’s trying to own every workflow,” said Scott White, the company’s head of product for enterprise. (Reuters)
Advanced Micro Devices shares picked up ground after the company unveiled a five-year agreement to supply Meta Platforms with as much as $60 billion in AI chips. Nvidia, set to report earnings, also nudged higher, according to Reuters. “Yesterday’s reaction was so overdone that it can’t help but bounce a little bit,” said Ken Polcari, chief market strategist at Slatestone Wealth. (Investing.com Australia)
Trade policy remains out of sight. The U.S. started enforcing a temporary 10% tariff on global imports this Tuesday, though the Trump administration aims to bump that up to 15%, according to a White House official. “This is simple: the government unlawfully imposed a tax on Americans and took their money. We’d like it back,” said Sara Albrecht, chairman of the Liberty Justice Center. (Reuters)
Nvidia’s earnings are shaping up as the next major test, with investors eager for signs that the AI-driven surge in spending is translating into real earnings growth. Wall Street is looking for a profit spike of more than 62%, and revenue that could soar over 68% to $66.16 billion. That’s happening while AMD and Google, through Alphabet, keep rolling out their own AI chips and competing for TSMC’s manufacturing muscle, according to Reuters. “People are so concerned about AI spending — whether we’re in a bubble,” said Ivana Delevska, chief investment officer at Spear Invest. (Reuters)
Still, that calm might not last. If Nvidia trips up, tariffs shift again, or new supply-chain jitters flare, the so-called “AI scare trade” could resurface—quickly unraveling Tuesday’s bounce and exposing it as little more than a false start.
Aside from Nvidia, market eyes are on a five-year U.S. Treasury note auction and new central bank remarks set for this day. Traders also face fresh inflation figures out of Europe, Reuters’ “Trading Day” column reported. (Reuters)
