[Market Summary]
On February 3 (local time), U.S. stock markets closed lower near all-time highs as a sell-off in technology stocks and rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East—which spiked oil prices—weighed on sentiment. While AI-related stocks continued their correction, a clear rotation into cyclical and value stocks was observed.
S&P 500: 6,917.81 (-0.84%)
Nasdaq: 23,255.18 (-1.43%)
Dow Jones: 49,240.99 (-0.34%)
The "Claude" Disruption: The software sector plunged following Anthropic's release of "Claude Cowork," a suite of AI automation plugins for legal, sales, marketing, and data analysis. This sparked fears that foundation model companies are now directly invading the workflows of traditional information service and software firms.
Sector Fallout: Information service giants took a massive hit. Gartner (-20.1%), S&P Global (-11.3%), Intuit (-10.9%), Equifax (-12.1%), Moody’s (-8.9%), and FactSet (-10.5%) all plummeted. In Europe, Relx (-14.1%) and Wolters Kluwer (-13.2%) saw similar crashes, while LSEG (-12.4%) suffered its worst day in five years.
Geopolitical & Commodity Impact: Oil prices rose over 2% after the U.S. Navy shot down an Iranian drone targeting an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. Safe-haven demand returned, with Gold and Silver rebounding nearly 5%, while Bitcoin fell below $75,000.
[Featured Tech & AI Strategy]
■ Alphabet (GOOGL)
Waymo's Massive Raise: Waymo secured $16 billion in funding, valuing the company at $126 billion. Alphabet provided $13 billion of the capital, joined by Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz.
Global Expansion: Waymo provides 400,000+ paid rides weekly in cities like SF and LA and plans to expand to over 20 cities by 2026, including international debuts in London and Tokyo.
■ Amazon (AMZN)
Grid Bottleneck: AWS warned that while it plans massive infrastructure expansion over the next two years, securing power grid connections in Europe can take up to 7 years, despite EU efforts to shorten the process to 2 years.
■ Microsoft (MSFT) & Nvidia (NVDA)
Wall Street Rankings: Microsoft holds the #1 spot in AI leadership with an average PT of $602.51 (+18.3% upside). Nvidia ranks #2, with analysts maintaining a unanimous Buy rating and a PT of $253.62 (+45.7% upside).
■ Palantir Technologies (PLTR)
Earnings Surge: Shares jumped 11% after beating Q4 estimates with an adjusted EPS of $0.25 (vs. $0.23 est) and revenue of $1.41 billion. William Blair upgraded the stock to Outperform, calling the recent software dip a "buying opportunity".
■ SanDisk (SNDK)
Moonshot Target: Bernstein hiked its price target for SanDisk from $580 to $1,000, implying 50% upside from current levels, following its explosive Q2 beat ($6.20 EPS vs. $3.49 est).
[Healthcare & Consumer Highlights]
■ Pfizer (PFE)
Obesity Breakthrough: Pfizer’s experimental drug PF-3944 showed a 12.3% weight loss in Phase 2 trials. Crucially, it is a once-a-month injection, offering a massive convenience lead over weekly shots from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.
Earnings Beat: Reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $0.66 (vs. $0.58 est).
■ PepsiCo (PEP)
Solid Beat: Beat estimates with $2.26 adjusted EPS and $29.34B in revenue. Reaffirmed its FY2026 outlook.
■ Merck (MRK)
Guidance Miss: Despite a Q4 revenue beat, Merck’s 2026 EPS guidance ($5.00–$5.15) significantly missed the $5.63 consensus due to acquisition costs.
■ Novo Nordisk (NVO)
Pessimistic Outlook: Released Q4 results a day early, forecasting a 5–13% drop in 2026 adjusted revenue, far worse than the 3.5% decline expected by the market.
[Industrial, Finance & Media Updates]
■ FedEx (FDX): Targets hiked by Bernstein ($427) and Wells Fargo ($380) on optimism regarding the Freight unit spin-off and Express margin improvement.
■ Walt Disney (DIS): The board officially named Josh D’Amaro as CEO, effective March 18. Bob Iger will remain as a senior advisor until his retirement on Dec 31, 2026.
■ Walmart (WMT): Achieved a historic $1 trillion market cap, a rare feat for a non-tech retailer.
■ Cisco (CSCO): Finally surpassed its 2000 Dotcom-era all-time high, reflecting its successful pivot to AI infrastructure and software subscriptions.
■ SoFi (SOFI): JPMorgan upgraded to Overweight ($31 PT), calling it the future "American Express of Fintech".
■ Lennar (LEN): Participating in the "Trump Home" project, a private-sector initiative to supply 1 million homes for first-time buyers.
■ Western Digital (WDC): Announced a new $4 billion share buyback program.
[After-Hours Featured Stocks]
■ Chipotle (CMG)
Plunge: Fell 7.02% to $36.42 after hours. Despite an EPS beat, 4 consecutive quarters of declining traffic and "flat" same-store sales guidance for 2026 worried investors.
■ AMD (AMD)
Slipping: Fell nearly 6% after hours despite beating Q4 revenue ($10.3B) and EPS ($1.53) estimates, as investors focused on execution risks and AI timing.
■ Silicon Labs (SLAB)
Takeover Target: Surged 35% on reports that Texas Instruments (TXN) is nearing a deal to acquire the company.
■ Palantir (PLTR)
After-hours Momentum: Continued to rise 7% following its strong regular session performance and bullish guidance.
■ Others:
Lumentum (LITE): +13% on a strong beat and Q3 guidance.
Enphase Energy (ENPH): +4% after exceeding revenue and profit estimates.
