Daily Market Summary – Feb 24th

Stock indexes plunge

Major U.S. stock indexes like the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq experienced sharp declines, with the Dow plunging over 800 points amid fears sparked by new Trump tariffs taking effect and an AI-fueled "scare trade" that triggered widespread selling in tech and software stocks. Investors reacted to the reimposition of a 10% levy on broad imports as part of rebuilding tariff walls to shield domestic industries, exacerbating global trade tensions and reviving uncertainty trades that positioned markets for barriers especially against China. This volatility intertwined with AI sector jitters, where hype turned to fears over soaring costs and uncertain returns, leading to relentless dumping of software stocks despite some positive earnings, and profound drops in names like IBM, which suffered its worst single-day plunge since 2000 after rivals unveiled tools to modernize legacy COBOL code.

Tariff escalations rise

Tariff escalations dominated headlines, as President-elect Trump prepared to pitch additional levies in his State of the Union address, threatened "obnoxious" import duties, and eyed new trade probes to reinstate blocked tariffs following court rulings deeming some illegal. FedEx pursued lawsuits against the U.S. government for refunds on these overturned tariffs, while consumers and importers faced billions in unrefunded costs with no rebate relief promised, heightening pressures on supply chains, prices, and balance of payments. The U.S. imposed preliminary anti-dumping and countervailing duties on solar cells and modules from India, Indonesia, and Laos to bolster domestic manufacturers, and Panama seized control of Canal port terminals from Chinese operator Hutchison Ports over national security concerns, ending a 25-year concession amid geopolitical strains. The EU warned these policies violate trade pacts, Japan urged avoidance of disadvantages to its economy, and Democrats pushed bills for household refunds on illegal tariff revenues, signaling potential legal battles and retaliatory risks.

Nvidia earnings loom

Nvidia's imminent Q4 earnings emerged as a pivotal test for the AI market rally, with anticipation driving diverse betting strategies via options, leveraged ETFs, and futures amid high volatility for the Magnificent 7 stocks showing mixed results. The report's focus on revenue growth, data center sales, gross margins, and guidance underscored surging AI chip demand, while rivals intensified pressure: AMD secured massive deals including up to $100 billion with Meta for advanced chips to power personal superintelligence pursuits, and another major supply agreement positioning it against Nvidia. OpenAI and Nvidia poured billions into AI infrastructure, Google inked power deals for data centers, and Amazon planned a $12 billion Louisiana buildout, highlighting infrastructure strains from booming demand.

AI turbulence intensifies

Anthropic's launches amplified AI turbulence, rolling out enterprise agents with plugins for finance, engineering, and design, new tools weeks after a legal incident sparked routs, and accusations against Chinese labs for data scraping from its Claude model amid U.S. debates on advanced chip export curbs. China's DeepSeek trained models on Nvidia's top chips despite bans, while investors frayed over fading hype, massive funding pursuits, and frontier dominance chases; this pressured software peers like CrowdStrike, Datadog, Snowflake, and others into declines. Fed Governor Lisa Cook cautioned AI could force inflation-employment dilemmas and drive short-term unemployment via layoffs, as Goldman Sachs charted potential rate hikes from such disruptions.

Energy markets shift

A transformative shift in global energy markets unfolded as cheap renewables, batteries, and flexible grids overtook traditional coal and nuclear baseload power, slashing costs, enhancing reliability, and redefining economic structures long-term. Oil prices hit seven-month highs amid U.S.-Iran standoffs and failed diplomatic efforts, with traders ramping risk bets despite some steadying on negotiation hints; gold climbed on tariff uncertainties and safe-haven flows. U.S. energy dominance pushes clashed with EU methane rules threatening LNG exports, while renewables strained grids fueling AI data centers.

Crypto regs ease

Crypto and fintech advanced with light-touch regulations favored by Trump's incoming White House, his family's World Liberty Financial pushing stablecoin-favoring laws, and Crypto.com gaining conditional U.S. trust bank charter approval for expanded services. WisdomTree secured SEC nod for instant settlement on its tokenized money market fund, pioneering blockchain in traditional finance, while the Federal Reserve permanently dropped "reputational risk" from bank supervision, easing subjective regulatory burdens. Stripe's valuation rocketed 74% to $159 billion, Ethereum upgraded for censorship resistance, and the Ethereum Foundation staked treasury reserves as Vitalik Buterin sold holdings; Bitcoin plunged sharply, eyeing worst month since 2022 amid macro headwinds.

Corporate maneuvers

Corporate maneuvers included Meta's up-to-$100 billion AMD chip pact repeated in emphasis, Novo Nordisk slashing Wegovy and Ozempic prices from 2027 amid GLP-1 competition, and Uber launching an autonomous vehicle division plus acquiring SpotHero for parking integration while expanding robotaxis to 10 U.S. markets alongside Waymo's nationwide push. Paramount upped bids for Warner Bros. Discovery amid bidding wars potentially blocking Netflix, with political influences noted. Russia's four-year Ukraine war inflicted trillions in damages via disrupted energy, food inflation, and slowed growth globally.

Confidence rises modestly

Consumer confidence rose modestly in February after January's crater, buoyed by labor outlooks despite uneven wage gains, persistent inflation above targets, surging national debt past $36 trillion, and GDP lagging peaks under Trump's "greatest economy" claim. Funding rounds spotlighted AI accounting startup Basis at $1.15 billion valuation, European AI chip firm Axelera's $250 million raise, and Medtronic's MiniMed diabetes unit IPO targeting $7.9 billion. SNB chairman noted global resilience to tariffs, Bank of Canada held rates amid U.S. dollar strength pressuring exports.

Mixed Q4 earnings

Q4 earnings painted a mixed corporate picture, with standouts like Home Depot beating expectations despite spending pullbacks, Keysight forecasting profits on data center demand, DigitalOcean exceeding sales with growth plans, and BWX Technologies surging on defense results; misses hit Ziff Davis, Planet Fitness post-beat, and others like Kratos, First Watch dragging shares. Logistics woes persisted at Expeditors with freight declines, FedEx prioritizing pharma jets, and cartel violence delaying Mexico corridors despite alternatives. Italy banned Amazon from using worker data for evaluations, California eyed injunction on its pricing algorithms, and OpenAI's COO downplayed enterprise AI penetration yet.

Commodities fluctuate

Commodities fluctuated with cocoa retreating on supplies, coffee boosting on Brazilian real strength, lumber volatility tied to construction, and grains like soybeans, wheat slipping; sugar, rice, copper steady amid dynamics. Housing strains from student loans hit providers, small businesses hiked credit surcharges facing pushback, and generational retirement gaps loomed with Boomers pension-backed, younger cohorts debt-burdened. UK services reliance exposed vulnerabilities, Europeans backed rich taxes, and India's tech growth eyed at 6.1% for 2026.