New York, February 15, 2026, 12:15 EST — The session’s over; market closed.
- Friday wrapped with AI chip leaders in the red, leaving the “AI stocks” group jittery ahead of the holiday-shortened week.
- Fresh AI products are rattling nerves outside the tech sector now, driving a rapid churn between “winners” and “losers.”
- Traders are eyeing Tuesday’s reopening, looking for cues from the Fed and waiting on Nvidia’s results to get a better read on where things might move next.
Nvidia (NVDA.O) dropped 2.2% by the close on Friday, marking a rough end to the week for the AI heavyweight just before the U.S. heads into a slow, holiday-shortened stretch. Broadcom (AVGO.O) also slipped, down 1.8%, as chip stocks that have powered the AI story continued to face selling.
Wall Street’s AI trade is showing some real cracks now. According to Reuters, a legal AI plug-in from Anthropic sparked a wave of selling in software, which then bled into other sectors that investors worry could get hit by automation. The S&P 500 Software & Services index has shed around $2 trillion in value since peaking in October, Reuters noted—about half of that drop happened just in the last two weeks. “With fear driving market sentiment, investors remain in ‘sell first think later’ mode,” Barclays equity strategist Emmanual Cau said. (Reuters)
The spillover isn’t theoretical for the AI winners. When funds look to trim risk, they usually begin by unloading the largest, most crowded trades—regardless of where the headlines are pointing. Add in a long weekend, and you get fewer sessions to adjust, less room to maneuver, and sometimes a punchier move when markets open again.
The S&P 500 eked out a 0.05% gain on Friday, but the Nasdaq slipped 0.22% as major tech and communications stocks stumbled late, just ahead of Monday’s U.S. Presidents Day holiday, Reuters said. Softer U.S. inflation figures boosted the probability of a 25-basis-point rate cut in June — traders leaned into those bets, CME FedWatch data showed — though that wasn’t enough to lift tech shares. “Large cap tech stocks continue to be an anchor on the market,” said Michael James, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities. (Reuters)
Among other AI-related giants at the last close, AMD (AMD.O) gained 0.7%. Microsoft (MSFT.O) edged down 0.1%, Alphabet (GOOGL.O) dropped 1.1%. AI server supplier Super Micro Computer (SMCI.O) ticked up 0.4%.
Nvidia gave traders something else to consider this weekend. The company said chief executive Jensen Huang is skipping his planned trip to India next week for the India AI Impact Summit, where he was slated to headline and meet with the press in New Delhi. (Reuters)
There’s also regulatory risk, especially around cloud and AI platforms. Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has recently intensified its scrutiny of Microsoft, sending civil investigative demands to several competitors in recent weeks. The requests, according to Reuters, cover details on how Microsoft is bundling AI software with its products. (Reuters)
Still, the future for AI stocks could hinge on fundamentals—specifically, how companies manage their spending and margins. Any sign of slower payback from AI investments has drawn a swift reaction from investors, and this group doesn’t hesitate to reprice when outlooks soften or customers start flagging budget constraints.
With the week shortened by the holiday, swings could get stretched. A thinly traded Tuesday facing a pileup in options? Suddenly, even garden-variety headlines might punch harder than usual in the market.
The calendar’s packed: First up, the Federal Reserve will publish minutes from its January 27–28 meeting on February 18 at 2 p.m. ET—a full rundown that traders scour for policy signals. Nvidia has its fiscal fourth-quarter results event lined up for February 25, with the call set to kick off at 2 p.m. PT. (Federal Reserve)
