New York, February 15, 2026, 13:08 EST — The market has closed.
- Applied Materials shares jumped roughly 8% by Friday’s close, lifted by a bullish forecast connected to AI-driven chip investment.
- Chip-equipment stocks pushed higher, even as tech more broadly wobbled on concerns around AI shakeups.
- After the Presidents Day break, markets resume trading Tuesday, with investors eyeing Fed minutes and a packed lineup of data and earnings reports.
Applied Materials rallied 8.1% Friday, closing at $354.91. U.S. markets are closed Monday for Presidents Day, so traders will have to wait until Tuesday for the next read on chip-equipment sentiment.
Applied Materials’ upbeat outlook landed right where traders have been placing their bets lately: swelling AI infrastructure budgets and a memory market that’s running tighter. “Artificial intelligence infrastructure demand is immense, and supply is scarce,” said William Kerwin, a senior equity analyst over at Morningstar. Lam Research and KLA moved higher, too. reuters.com
That stretch of outperformance came as volatility crept in. The Nasdaq closed down on Friday, and even with softer inflation numbers, the sector still lost ground for the week. Investors are nervous over how quickly AI might shake up profit streams—and what it’ll take to stay competitive. “Large cap tech stocks continue to be an anchor on the market,” said Michael James, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities. reuters.com
Applied reported first-quarter revenue of $7.01 billion, down 2% year-over-year, and posted non-GAAP earnings of $2.38 per share. For the second quarter, the company is projecting revenue at $7.65 billion, give or take $500 million, and expects non-GAAP EPS of $2.64, plus or minus 20 cents. CEO Gary Dickerson pointed to “the acceleration of industry investments in AI computing” as the driver behind these results. sec.gov
Chipmakers rely on wafer-fab equipment to process silicon wafers into finished chips. “Advanced packaging” comes in later, connecting chips for better performance. And then there’s high-bandwidth memory, or HBM—a rapid-fire memory stack built to keep up with the data appetite of AI processors.
Still, the business cycles. If major clients hit pause on data-center construction or feel they’ve stocked up on enough capacity, tool orders can fall off fast—and that generous guidance starts to fade.
It’s against that backdrop that tech stocks are trading. “With fear driving market sentiment, investors remain in ‘sell first think later’ mode,” said Barclays equity strategist Emmanual Cau, noting just how fast AI headlines are shaking up the leaderboard for winners and losers. reuters.com
This week may be short thanks to the holiday, but it’s loaded with triggers: U.S. GDP is on tap, so are fresh reads on housing and the latest Fed meeting minutes. Earnings roll in from Palo Alto Networks and Analog Devices. Later, investors get their hands on the Fed’s go-to PCE inflation print.
Tech traders are zeroed in on Wednesday’s big event: the Fed will release minutes from its Jan. 27-28 meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET, Feb. 18. Any tweak in the way policymakers discuss inflation or growth might shake up rate-cut bets, and that usually ripples straight through tech stock values.
