Markets News, Feb. 27, 2026: Major Indexes End Sharply Lower After Inflation Reading Comes in Hotter Than Expected; Dow Sheds More Than 500 Points

Major stock indexes plunged Friday to conclude a mostly negative month of trading after a wholesale inflation reading came in hotter than expected.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, tech-heavy Nasdaq, and benchmark S&P 500 finished down a respective 1.1%, 0.9%, and 0.4%, with the Dow shedding about 520 points as financial stocks American Express (AXP) and Goldman Sachs (GS) weighed on the index.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended lower for February, while the Dow finished 0.2% higher for its 10th straight month of gains.

The Producer Price Index data indicated that prices increased by 0.5% in January, ahead of economists’ estimates of a 0.3% rise, while “core” prices increased by 0.8%, double expectations. The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on a variety of consumer loans including mortgages, was trading below 3.97% at 4 p.m. ET, down from Thursday’s close around 4.01%.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares ended a further 4% lower Friday after sinking 5.5% yesterday, when the world’s most valuable company was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq even though it had reported blockbuster results.

Privately held ChatGPT parent OpenAI announced before the bell Friday that it had raised $110 billion in new investment at a $730 billion valuation, including $50 billion from Amazon (AMZN) and $30 billion apiece from Nvidia and SoftBank. “We’ve also signed a strategic partnership with Amazon and secured next generation inference compute with NVIDIA,” OpenAI said. “Additional financial investors are expected to join as the round progresses.” Shares of Amazon ended up nearly 1%.

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) surged 14% after the streaming giant announced it wouldn’t match Paramount Skydance’s revised bid to acquire all of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for $31 a share. Shares of David Ellison-led Paramount (PSKY) soared 21%, while those of WBD slipped 2%.

Block (XYZ) shares jumped 17% after the Square and Cash App parent said it plans to slash 40% of its workforce, which founder Jack Dorsey wrote in a shareholder letter accompanying its earnings report was due to advancements in “intelligence tools.”

In post-earnings moves, shares of Dell Technologies (DELL) surged 22%, CoreWeave (CRWV) dropped 19%, FanDuel parent Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) sank 14%, and Zscaler (ZS) retreated 12%.

Bitcoin was trading around $65,600, down from overnight highs above $68,200. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of currencies, was 0.2% lower at 97.58.

Gold futures were about 1.5% higher at around $5,280 an ounce, while silver futures advanced 7.5% to $94.25 an ounce. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose more than 3% to $67.30 a barrel.