New York, Feb 7, 2026, 11:05 EST — The market has closed.
Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) ended Friday’s session up 1.2% at $1,001.16, managing to push past the $1,000 threshold just before the weekend. Shares moved between $982.30 and $1,001.20, with volume landing near 2.36 million. U.S. markets are closed Saturday.
Costco’s results hit as investors grapple with the direction of interest rates and the impact on pricier retail stocks. The retailer is often a bellwether for more resilient parts of U.S. consumer spending, so this move lands at a critical moment.
Friday’s consumer readout was murky. The University of Michigan’s sentiment gauge ticked up to 57.3 in early February, yet the survey pointed to stubborn job worries and persistent tariff-driven cost strains. “We may have seen the trough in consumer sentiment,” Nationwide economist Oren Klachkin said, but he cautioned not to count on any dramatic recovery. 1
Costco’s latest figures set the tone. The retailer posted January net sales of $21.33 billion on Feb. 4, marking a 9.3% increase from the same month last year. Comparable sales — at stores open more than a year — climbed 7.1%. Online and digitally-enabled sales surged, up 34.4%. Costco noted that a shift in Lunar and Chinese New Year cut into Other International sales by about 4.0% and shaved around 0.5% from Total Company sales. 2
Analyst commentary trickled in toward the end of the week. Wells Fargo bumped its Costco price target up to $950 from $900 but stuck with an “equal weight” rating, signaling no shift from its neutral call, MT Newswires reported. 3
Friday’s market backdrop did some heavy lifting. The Dow finished above 50,000 for the first time ever. S&P 500? Up 1.97%. Nasdaq jumped 2.18%. That’s a quick snapback after a tough run—investors had been jittery about surging tech budgets and shifting rate bets. 4
Earlier in the week, Costco was already outpacing its rivals. On Thursday, shares gained 1.12%, bucking the drop in the S&P 500. Amazon tumbled 4.42%. Walmart slipped 0.83%, and Target finished down 2.87%, MarketWatch data show. 5
On Monday, eyes turn to Costco to see if shares can hang onto that $1,000-plus level absent any new company news. Monthly sales figures are notoriously jumpy—gas prices, forex shifts, even how the calendar falls all play a role. Traders usually wait for a real trend, not just a single-session surge.
But it’s not a one-way street. Should optimism about rate cuts fade, those higher-multiple defensives could take a hit too—same as the rest. And with the stock perched on a round-number threshold, even a small blip in traffic or cost discipline might loom larger.
Costco’s fiscal second-quarter earnings call lands March 5, putting the spotlight on margins, membership fees, and any sign that January’s pace held up through February. 6
