Stock market news for Feb. 27, 2026

Stocks dropped on Friday after the latest producer price index data got here in a lot hotter than anticipated, including sticky inflation to an inventory of considerations that has brought about market turbulence this month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 521.28 factors, or 1.05%, to shut at 48,977.92. The S&P 500 closed down 0.43% at 6,878.88, whereas the Nasdaq Composite misplaced 0.92% to settle at 22,668.21.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq completed within the crimson for February amid rising fears concerning the impression of synthetic intelligence on particular industries and the general economic system. Those fears had been exacerbated after Jack Dorsey’s fintech firm block stated it is laying off more than 4,000 employees — almost half of its workforce. Stocks within the monetary sector and different areas of the market tied to the financial cycle pulled again Friday.

Stocks linked to personal credit score had been below strain once more as buyers anticipated that they might doubtlessly undergo because of UK mortgage supplier Market Financial Solutions’ collapse. Apollo and Jefferies had been among the many laggards, dropping greater than 8% and 9%, respectively. Shares of Blue Owlwhich has been hit just lately within the wake of its liquidity curbs and asset salefell about 6%.

Notable software program names suffered losses as nicely Friday as they shut out a horrible month. Salesforce tumbled greater than 2%, as did Microsoftwhich weighed on the Dow. Cybersecurity firm Zscaler shed 12% after deferred income and billings within the fiscal second quarter missed expectations. CoreWeave fell 18% on disappointing guidance.

Nvidia prolonged its post-earnings slide with a 4% fall Friday. The inventory shed greater than 5% on Thursday, a shock to many buyers who stay bullish on the chipmaker given its blowout fourth-quarter outcomes and upcoming product cycle. Market individuals attributed the decline in shares to doubts around Nvidia’s deal with OpenAIweak sentiment over the AI ​​commerce and skepticism about whether or not hyperscalers’ lofty AI capital expenditures are sustainable.

Fueling the downbeat sentiment, January’s producer value index — a measure of wholesale inflation — confirmed a 0.5% improve for the month. Economists polled by Dow Jones noticed the headline studying coming in at 0.3%. Perhaps extra regarding is that the core PPI studying, which excludes meals and power costs, recorded a 0.8% achieve, rather more than the 0.3% rise economists anticipated.

Stephen Kolano, chief funding officer at Integrated Partners, views the PPI report as an extra complication for buyers on high of the already-existing anxieties surrounding not simply AI capex and the danger of its disruption to industries but in addition different elements reminiscent of stress in the private credit market. Noting that the inflation studying appears to be extra providers pushed, he thinks it is a signal firms are presumably beginning to cross via the price of tariffs to the tip client with a purpose to keep their margins.

“Inflation isn’t solved yet,” he stated, including that it creates this conundrum for the Federal Reserve of deciding whether or not to chop rates of interest to spur progress or to carry regular to proceed to battle inflation. “It just creates this uncertainty around which way is policy going to go in the remainder of the year.”

That’s to not point out the state of the labor market as another worryKolano stated. Even although job progress final month was much better than expectedthe funding chief stated he is not certain that the labor market is stabilizing on condition that layoffs have been choosing up. In truth, Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported earlier this month that layoffs in January hit their highest total for that month for the reason that world monetary disaster.

“I don’t see a clear sign that unemployment is not going to move higher just yet,” he stated.

The Nasdaq posted a decline of greater than 3% in February, seeing its worst month-to-month efficiency since final March. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV) is down almost 10% for the month, bringing its year-to-date losses to virtually 23%. The S&P 500, in the meantime, recorded a lack of near 1% in February, whereas the Dow climbed about 0.2%.

—CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed reporting.