Dow futures tumble 500 points after hot wholesale inflation reading, tech stocks decline: Live updates
Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 25, 2026.
NYSE
Stock futures slipped on Friday after the latest producer price index data came in much hotter than expected, adding sticky inflation to a list of concerns that has caused market turbulence this month.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 581 points, or 1.2%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.9% while Nasdaq-100 futures lost 1%.
January's producer price index, which is a measure of wholesale inflation, showed a 0.5% increase for the month. Economists polled by Dow Jones saw the headline reading coming in at 0.3%. Perhaps more concerning is the core PPI reading, which excludes food and energy prices, recorded a 0.8% gain, much more than the 0.3% rise economists anticipated.
Tech shares were under pressure again Friday, continuing their poor month as Nvidia extended its post-earnings slide, falling 1% in premarket trading. In the prior trading day, the stock shed more than 5%, which came to a surprise to many investors, who remain bullish on the chipmaker given its blowout fourth-quarter results and upcoming product cycle. Market participants attributed the decline in shares to doubts around Nvidia's deal with OpenAI, weak sentiment over the artificial intelligence trade and concerns about whether hyperscalers' lofty AI capital expenditures are sustainable.
The AI chip darling invested $30 billion in OpenAI during its latest funding round, which closed at $110 billion. Shares of Amazon — which invested $50 billion in that funding round — were lower alongside Nvidia shares. Earlier in the bull market, these types of announcements would typically lift the related tech shares.
Notable software names also suffered losses. Salesforce tumbled more than 3%, and Microsoft lost about 1%, weighing on Dow futures. Cybersecurity company Zscaler shed 9% after deferred revenue and billings in the fiscal second quarter missed expectations. CoreWeave fell 11% on disappointing guidance.
Stocks in the financial sector and other areas of the market pulled back as well as fears that AI would pose a threat to the labor market and broader economy persisted. Those fears were exacerbated after Block announced Thursday that it's laying off more than 4,000 employees, or nearly half of its workforce.
"We are choosing to shift how we operate at a time when our business is accelerating and we see an opportunity to move faster with smaller, highly talented teams using AI to automate more work," CFO Amrita Ahuja wrote in a letter to shareholders.
Downbeat reactions to key tech earnings pressured the broader market on Thursday. The S&P 500 lost 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1.2%. The 30-stock Dow ended the session higher by 17 points, or less than 0.1%.
Thursday's session saw investors flock toward more cyclical areas of the market, with financials and industrials among the session's top-performing sectors. Tensions around President Donald Trump's tariff policies and U.S.-Iran relations remain in the back of investors' minds.
"Investors are pumping the brakes on positioning as the level of uncertainty is increasing," said Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. Samana remains confident that growth of the economy and companies' earnings will lead the S&P 500 to overcome near-term issues and break higher from current levels.
Friday marks the final trading day of February, a rocky month that saw tech stocks rattled to their core amid fears of AI disruption. To that end, the Nasdaq Composite is on pace for a 2.5% slide and its worst monthly performance since last March. The S&P 500 is on track for a 0.4% loss in February, while the Dow is on pace for a 1.2% advance.
— Jeff Cox contributed reporting.
Amazon, Big Tech stocks fall following Open AI's latest $110 billion raise
Amazon and other Big Tech stocks fell after OpenAI revealed Thursday that it had raised $110 billion in a new raise.
Amazon edged down nearly 1%, while shares of Microsoft and Meta shed more than 2% and 1%, respectively.
Amazon participated in the funding round, in addition to unveiling a multi-year strategic partnership with OpenAI. The companies will develop customized models that will help power Amazon's customer-facing applications as part of the agreement, according to a release.
The investment boosts OpenAI to a $730 billion pre-money valuation, which marks a big jump from its $500 billion valuation in a secondary financing in October. Other investors are expected to join as the round progresses, OpenAI said.
— Liz Napolitano, Kate Rooney, Ashley Capoot
PPI rises more than expected in January
The producer price index, a gauge of wholesale inflation, rose 0.5% in January. PPI was expected to increase 0.3% in January, according to a Dow Jones consensus estimate.
The data raises questions about the Fed's path toward lowering its overnight benchmark rate.
— Fred Imbert
10-year Treasury yield falls below 4% ahead of PPI report
The 10-year Treasury yield moved below the 4% level heading into Friday's release of January's producer price index reading.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was last down more than 3 basis points at 3.981%.
10-year Treasury yield, 1=day
— Sean Conlon
Analysts say Netflix abandoning its Warner Bros. bid could lead to big gains for the streamer
Analysts believe Netflix's decision to walk away from a previously proposed deal for Warner Bros. Discovery removes a major overhang for the stock and allows investors to refocus on the company's core growth story.
On Thursday, Netflix declined to raise its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming assets to match a revised offer from Paramount Skydance. Paramount raised its bid earlier this week to buy the entirety of Warner Bros.′ assets for $31 per share, up from $30 per share, in an all-cash deal.
Shares of Netflix jumped 8% before the bell on Friday, as did Paramount Skydance. Warner Bros. Discovery stock slipped 1%.
NFLX, 1-day
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— Lisa Kailai Han
Block shares surge after company announces layoffs
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Shares of Block jumped nearly 21% in the premarket on Friday after the company announced Thursday that it's laying off about half of its workforce.
"Today we shared a difficult decision with our team," co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey wrote in a letter to shareholders. "We're reducing Block by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000, which means that over 4,000 people are being asked to leave or entering into consultation."
XYZ, 1-day
— Annie Palmer, Sean Conlon
Live Nation rises after upgrade
The logo and trading information for Live Nation Entertainment is displayed on a screen on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on May 3, 2019.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Shares of Live Nation rose about 1% after an upgrade to buy from neutral at Rothschild & Co. Redburn. The firm also raised its price target on the stock to $193 from $166, signaling upside of 22.2% from Thursday's close.
The change comes just five months after the firm downgraded Live Nation to neutral.
"Our thesis at the time rested on three key concerns. Firstly, we did not feel comfortable applying a lofty target multiple given the material regulatory risks. Secondly, at all-time highs, we worried the shares looked vulnerable to concerns around the US consumer. Thirdly, we argued earnings beats were less likely to occur now Venue Nation was more mature," analyst Ed Vyvyan wrote.
"Many of these concerns (e.g. a new Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, soft 3Q25 Concert segment earnings) have played out in the form of a share price derating over 2H25. However, the shares have since stabilised on softer regulatory concerns, and the demand backdrop remains strong (as per Q4 results and guidance). This gives us confidence to take a more constructive view."
— Fred Imbert
Individual investor bullishness drops for 4th straight week, AAII survey shows
Optimism about the six-month outlook for stocks fell for a fourth straight week, according to the latest weekly survey by the American Association of Individual Investors.
Bullish investors now account for only a third, 33.2%, of those sampled by AAII, down from 34.5% last week; 38.5% two weeks ago; 39.7% in the week ended Feb. 4 and a recent high of 44.4% in the week ended Jan. 28.
Contrarians follow sentiment readings because excessive bullishness can signal the market may be poised to decline, the idea being that investors are reflecting the fact they're fully invested and have already put most of their spare cash in new positions.
Nearly half of individual investors polled by AAII, or 49.5%, described themselves as bullish as recently as Jan. 14, this year's high and the highest since all the way back in Nov. 2024, when 49.8% were optimistic.
— Scott Schnipper
Netflix backs out of deal for Warner Bros. Discovery, streamer's shares surge nearly 10%
Ted Sarandos, chief executive officer of Netflix Inc., departs following meetings at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.
Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Netflix backed away from its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming assets after the company's board chose to go with an updated bid from Paramount Skydance.
On Tuesday, Warner Bros. said that Paramount Skydance lifted its takeover offer to $31 per share, up from $30 a share.
The board reviewed the updated bid under the terms of its existing deal with Netflix and ultimately determined it to be superior on Thursday.
Shares of Netflix jumped almost 10% on the news. Paramount Skydance advanced 4% in extended trading, while Warner Bros lost 2%.
Read the latest from CNBC's Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman on Paramount's offer for Warner Bros. here.
— Darla Mercado