This week’s stock shocks as of 27th February, 2026
The week opened with a gut-punch and closed with a sigh of relief—but the bruises are still showing. Monday’s 800-point Dow plunge—driven by Trump’s snap move to 15% global tariffs and a fresh wave of AI disruption panic (as reported by CNN, CBS, and CNBC)—gave way to a furious two-day rebound powered by AMD’s blockbuster Meta deal and Nvidia’s blowout earnings. The S&P 500 clawed back from Monday’s close of 6,838 to close Wednesday at 6,946, the Nasdaq surged from 22,627 to 23,152, and the Dow swung from 48,804 to 49,482—a nearly 700-point round trip.
This wasn’t just noise. It was the market wrestling with its two biggest anxieties in real time: tariff chaos and AI’s double-edged sword. One day, AI is destroying software stocks. Next, a $60 billion chip deal proves the buildout is just getting started. One day, 15% global tariffs spark a selloff. Next, traders shrug and buy the dip. The whiplash tells you everything about where we are: nobody’s sure which narrative wins, so every headline moves the needle.
🔔 Don’t miss out!
Add winvestacrisps@substack.com to your email list so our updates never land in your spam folder.
Market recap 📊
The week’s price action told a story in three acts: panic, relief, and anticipation.
Monday was brutal. Over the weekend, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs, ruling the president had exceeded his authority. Rather than accept the loss, Trump immediately announced new 15% global tariffs under a different legal authority. Markets opened in the red and never recovered. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 822 points, or 1.66%, to close at 48,804, per CNBC. The S&P 500 fell 1.04% to 6,837.75, and the Nasdaq shed 1.13% to 22,627. But tariffs were only half the story. An AI “scare trade” roared back to life after Anthropic unveiled new programming capabilities for its Claude Code product, sparking fears that AI would displace legacy software and consulting businesses. IBM cratered 13%—its worst day since 2000—while Microsoft dropped 3%, CrowdStrike fell nearly 10%, and Salesforce slid over 5%. A weekend report from Citrini Research, an independent research firm (as identified by CBS News), added fuel to the fire with analysis on how rapid AI deployment could hurt the broader economy. Gold surged 3.4% to $5,254, per FactSet data reported by CBS News, as investors fled to safety.
Tuesday brought the reversal. The S&P 500 climbed 0.77% to 6,890, the Dow added 370 points to 49,174, and the Nasdaq jumped 1.04% to 22,864, per CNBC. The catalyst? A multiyear
AI chip deal between AMD and Meta Platforms—up to $60 billion and 6 gigawatts of AMD’s GPUs for AI data centres. AMD shares surged 8.8% on the news. Meanwhile, Anthropic’s Tuesday event actually eased disruption fears—10 new business plug-ins, per TheStreet, showed AI augmenting existing software platforms like Intuit, DocuSign, and Salesforce rather than replacing them. Software stocks rebounded hard, with Salesforce gaining over 4% and FactSet jumping nearly 6%. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 91.2, beating estimates of 86.8, adding to the risk-on mood. Home Depot beat earnings expectations and climbed roughly 2%. By evening, Trump delivered a nearly two-hour State of the Union address focused on the economy, though analysts noted it had little market-moving substance.
Wednesday extended the rally ahead of Nvidia’s closely watched earnings after the bell. The S&P 500 rose 0.81% to 6,946, the Nasdaq surged 1.26% to 23,152, and the Dow added another 308 points to 49,482, per CNBC. After the close, Nvidia delivered: revenue of $68.1 billion (crushing the $66.2 billion estimate), earnings of $1.62 per share (beating $1.53), and Q1 guidance of $78 billion—well above expectations. Data centre revenue alone hit $62.3 billion, up 75% year-over-year. The stock rose modestly in after-hours trading.
The market recovered Monday’s losses and then some. But the speed of the reversal shouldn’t be confused with stability—this was reactive trading, not conviction.
Sentiment watch: Whiplash week 😶🌫️
The CNN Fear & Greed Index spent most of the week in Fear territory, per Benzinga, consistent with the tariff shock and AI panic on Monday. By midweek, as the rebound took hold, the index appeared to edge back toward the low end of Neutral—but hadn’t escaped the gravitational fear of fear entirely.
Monday’s selloff felt genuinely panicky. The VIX spiked as software stocks, financials, and industrials all sold off in tandem. Put-call ratios jumped. Gold ripped higher. It had the hallmarks of a broad risk-off move, not a sector rotation. But Tuesday’s AMD-Meta deal and Anthropic’s more conciliatory business tools flipped the narrative within 24 hours.
What’s telling? The speed of recovery shows how thin the conviction is on both sides. Bulls point to Nvidia’s earnings, record AI infrastructure spending, and still-resilient economic data. Bears have tariff escalation, AI disruption fears that won’t go away, and an S&P 500 that’s essentially flat for the year. Neither side has enough firepower to sustain a trend.
The market’s not picking sides. It’s reacting, headline by headline.
🚀 Want to trade the names moving markets—Nvidia, AMD, Meta, and more? Join 60,000+ investors on the Winvesta app.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Winvesta Crisps to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.