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Informist, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Barring Nasdaq, US equity indices end slightly higher Fri

 

MUMBAI--0742 IST--Equity indices in the US ended slightly higher Friday barring the Nasdaq Composite index that fell slightly due to losses in technology stocks. The impact of the weakness in technology stocks was somewhat offset by the weaker-than-expected inflation data, which increased the chances of a rate cut in June. 

 

The data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed CPI for January 2.4% on year, down 0.3 percentage point from the preiovus month, CNBC reported. "This should be welcome news for markets, and the presumptive incoming Fed Chair Kevin Warsh," Phil Blancato, Osaic chief market strategist was reported as saying. "This is only one month's worth of data, but if the trend continues it should pave a path for lower interest rates and reined in inflation," Blancato added. The possibility of a 25 basis point rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in June rose to 9.8% from 9.2% on Feb. 13, according to the CMEFedWatch tool. 

 

Disruption from artificial intelligence-affected tech stocks during the course of the week, spread to software, real estate, and financial services stocks. Shares of Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab have fallen nearly 5% and 11%, respectively. Shares of software company Workday fell 11% and those of real estate firm CBRE fell 16% for the period. Shares of media companies too fell, with Netflix falling 6% for the week. "Investors show no mercy for anything seen as an AI loser. The list is growing by the day, driving divergence between new/old economy sectors and U.S./[Rest Of World] equities," Barclays analyst Emmanuel Cau was reported by CNBC as saying. "Amid erratic price action and fears of AI disruption turning into a broader macro/credit issue, growth, rates & earnings backdrop is okay," he added.

 

Mega tech stocks such as NVIDIA Corp. and Apple, down over 2?ch, were the biggest drag on the S&P 500, while shares of Applied Materials provided the biggest boost to the index, Reuters reported. Shares of Arista Networks rose nearly 5?ter their forecasts for annual revenue beat expectations. Shares of Applied Materials rose over 8?ter the company forecast better-than-expected numbers for their annual revenue as well.

 

The US markets will be closed on Monday on account of President's Day.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Friday:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6836.17	0.05
NASDAQ Composite	22546.67	(-)0.22
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49500.93	0.1

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 90.64

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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