Markets News, Feb. 26, 2026: S&P 500, Nasdaq Drop After 2 Days of Big Gains as Tech Stocks Slide; Nvidia Shares Fall Despite Blowout Results

Major stock indexes closed mostly lower Thursday after a two-day rally, with shares of Nvidia falling even though the AI chip giant’s highly anticipated quarterly results came in better than analysts expected.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq and benchmark S&P 500 finished down 1.2% and 0.5%, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ended fractionally higher.

Yesterday, the Nasdaq, S&P 500, and Dow finished up 1.3%, 0.8%, and 0.6%, respectively, for their second straight session of gains after tumbling Monday on tariff and AI-disruption concerns.

After the bell Wednesday, Nvidia’s earnings report blew past Wall Street estimates as CEO Jensen Huang said customers are “racing to invest in AI.” Still, shares fell 5.5% to lead Dow and Nasdaq decliners after rising moderately before the bell.

The S&P 500 Information Technology Sector was the worst performer of the 11 industries tracked by the index, falling nearly 2%, dragged by shares of Nvidia, Corning (GLW), First Solar (FSLR), and Applied Materials (AMAT), among others.

Shares of Salesforce (CRM), which also reported results after markets closed yesterday, rose 4% to pace the Dow even though the software company issued a full-year revenue projection that came up short of analysts’ expectations.

In other post-earnings moves, shares of IonQ (IONQ) soared 21%, J.M. Smucker (SJM) jumped nearly 9%, C3.ai (AI) sank 18%, and The Trade Desk (TTD) fell about 5%.

Paramount Skydance (PSKY) stock surged 10% to pace the S&P 500 while the company it is trying to acquire, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), ticked 0.4% lower after both reported results. Netflix (NFLX), which is attempting to buy certain assets from WBD, ended up more than 2% as Politico reported that CEO Ted Sarandos was to visit the White House to discuss its potential acquisition.

Bitcoin, which surged yesterday, recently was trading around $67,500 at 4 p.m. ET, down from overnight highs around $69,900. The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on a variety of consumer loans including mortgages, was trading below 4.02%, down from Wednesday’s close around 4.05%.

Gold futures edged 0.2% lower to $5,215 an ounce, while silver futures fell about 2% to $89.35 an ounce. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, ticked higher to $65.50 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of currencies, edged 0.1% higher to 97.77.