NEW YORK, Feb 3, 2026, 17:18 EST — After-hours
- Dow slips as tech and software stocks fall amid concerns over AI disruption.
- IBM and Salesforce were big early drags on the Dow, as Walmart’s market cap topped $1 trillion.
- Next up are earnings from Alphabet and Amazon, while the U.S. jobs report remains postponed and uncertain.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped 166.67 points Tuesday, closing down 0.34% at 49,240.99 as tech and software stocks came under pressure amid renewed worries about AI squeezing profit margins. “We’re seeing a lot of software companies across the spectrum get hit,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth. The S&P 500 fell 0.84% to 6,917.81, while the Nasdaq slid 1.43% to 23,255.19. Merck bucked the trend, rising 2.2% after reporting results, and PepsiCo surged 4.9% following announcements of price cuts on brands like Lay’s and Doritos. Reuters
Anthropic shook things up this week by rolling out plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent that streamline tasks in legal, sales, and data analysis, traders and analysts told Reuters. That sparked a swift sell-off in companies relying on information moats and per-seat software models. “Sometimes the market just shoots first and asks questions later,” said Mike Archibald, a portfolio manager at AGF Investments, after Thomson Reuters shares dropped nearly 18%. Reuters
Macro headlines weighed on markets. Oil surged after the U.S. military downed an Iranian drone near an aircraft carrier. On the tech front, reports that OpenAI seeks faster alternatives to Nvidia chips rattled AI stocks. “Any AI related headlines right now are coming out as a negative,” said Sahak Manuelian, managing director at Wedbush Securities, as the CBOE Volatility Index — a measure of anticipated market swings — climbed. Reuters
Within the 30-stock Dow, losses were heavily centered on just a few names. IBM and Salesforce were the biggest drags early on, with MarketWatch estimating that the two together shaved off around 285 points at one point. Because the Dow is price-weighted, a $1 move in any stock roughly equals a 6-point swing in the index.
Walmart bucked the trend, climbing roughly 3% to become the first retailer to hit a $1 trillion market valuation. That surge helped boost the Dow, even as investors pulled back in other sectors. “We think of trillion-dollar market caps as being a tech-stock phenomenon, but Walmart is a gritty ‘old-economy’ company,” investor Charles Sizemore noted. Reuters
Healthcare shares dragged on sentiment after Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy, warned that profits and sales could drop by as much as 13% this year amid U.S. pricing pressure and rising competition. Eli Lilly, a Dow component, slipped about 4% in afternoon trading. “In 2026, Novo Nordisk will face pricing headwinds in an increasingly competitive market,” CEO Mike Doustdar said in a statement. Reuters
The Dow hit an intraday high of 49,633 before slipping back as selling pressure intensified, per Investopedia. The swift reversal sparked chatter among traders about how fast a market near record levels can flip on unfavorable news.
Tuesday saw a pullback after Monday’s strong bounce. The Dow climbed 1.05% to 49,407.66 the day before, boosted by solid earnings reports and hopes that Washington would resolve the government shutdown. “The fundamentals are good and earnings are strong,” noted Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder. Reuters
The shutdown finally ended Tuesday when President Donald Trump signed a stopgap spending bill into law. The measure restored funding to multiple agencies and pushed the Department of Homeland Security’s temporary funding deadline to Feb. 13.
Funding may be back, but the data schedule remains unsettled. The Labor Department confirmed the January employment report, set for Friday, won’t come out as planned. It’ll be pushed back until funding is fully restored. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for December was also delayed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics calendar still shows the original Feb. 6 release date, leaving traders waiting on a revised schedule.
AMD shares dropped over 5% after hours following its forecast of a sequential revenue dip, even with some lift from AI-chip sales to China. This outlook might weigh on sentiment across the chip sector when markets open Wednesday.
The bigger risk for the Dow is straightforward: a fresh wave of AI headlines or cautious forecasts might push today’s repricing into a steeper sell-off in pricey software and big tech stocks. On the flip side, solid earnings could quickly lure cash back in.
Alphabet reports earnings after Wednesday’s close, with Amazon set to follow after Thursday’s session. Investors will be keen for updates on the timing of the postponed U.S. jobs data release.
