Staley Da Bear mascot sits in the endzone during the game between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field on September 13, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Tech and financials weigh on stocks as credit risks rise

Markets shifted to risk-off mode on hotter-than-expected producer prices and rising credit risks.

2/27/26 4:02PM

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were both down for the day, week, and month while the Russell 2000 was down on the day and week, but gained for the month, as February trading came to a close.

Healthcare was today’s best-performing sector, followed by energy as crude oil rose on tensions with Iran. Financials and tech were the worst performers as rising credit risks weighed on upstart growth companies. Hit particularly hard were neoclouds and data center companies like Nebius, IREN, Applied Digital, and Cipher Digital, as well as quantum computing companies including IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and Infleqtion.

Bitcoin continued its downward trend and headed for its fifth consecutive losing month.

Stocks that moved higher:

Dell was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 today, with shares skyrocketing as analysts applauded its “exceptional beat+raise.”
Paramount Skydance was the benchmark index’s second-best performer after winning the war for Warner Bros. Discovery after Netflix declined to raise its bid. Paramount paid a $2.8 billion breakup fee to Netflix, whose shares also surged.
Block soared after cutting more than 4,000 jobs as part of its plans to “replace human labor with compute power.”
Power producer AES Corp. jumped after Bloomberg reported that BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners and equity firm EQT AB are close to acquiring the utility.
MARA Holdings spiked as the bitcoin miner plans to pivot to AI, partnering with investment firm Starwood to convert sites into data centers.
Rocket Companies ticked higher on a Q4 earnings beat and strong Q1 2026 guidance.

Stocks that moved lower:

CoreWeave plummeted after its Q4 capex exceeded estimates and its 2026 investment budget was higher than anticipated.
Figure Technology Solutions sank on underwhelming Q4 results as analysts cut their price targets to $55 (from $62 and $71).
Zscaler dropped as its second-quarter net loss widened and spending rose.
Sweetgreen tumbled after weak Q4 results as its outlook for established restaurant sales is expected to contract by 2% to 4% this year.
Rocket Lab slumped despite an earnings beat after revealing the launch of its new, larger Neutron rocket is delayed.
FanDuel parent Flutter Entertainment dropped after its Q4 revenue and earnings missed estimates.
Duolingo plummeted after forecasting a sharp slowdown in bookings growth.
Grindr Inc. dropped despite reporting both an earnings and revenue beat after the bell yesterday.

Luke Kawa19m

Bloom Energy spikes after vastly expanding its deal to supply fuel cells to Oracle

Bloom Energy spiked 15% in postmarket trading on Monday after expanding its pact to supply power to Oracle.

The hyperscaler has contracted an initial 1.2 gigawatts of fuel cell capacity from Bloom, with plans to procure up to 2.8 gigawatts in order to support the power needs of its data centers.

Shares of Bloom boomed last July after the initial announcement that it would be delivering “onsite power for an entire data center within 90 days,” the first time the fuel cell company booked a direct deal with a hyperscaler. Bloom came through with the delivery in 55 days.

Oracle execs are obviously pleased with the execution and the results — and have another reason to be happy about getting more power from Bloom...

In concert with this announcement, a filing showed that Oracle received warrants to buy 3.53 million shares of Bloom Energy for $113.28 apiece on April 9, as part of an agreement reached between the two sides in October. That would be about 1.25% of Bloom's current shares outstanding.

“It was a great strategic partnership where both enterprises had a lot to gain,” Bloom founder, chairman, and CEO KR Sridhar said of the warrant deal during the Q4 earnings call on February 2026. “And remember, these were not penny warrants. These were done at market pricing on the day we agreed to, like what we do. So it is not in lieu of something other than both parties enhancing enterprise value.”

So, Bloom’s business gets a massive boost from a hyperscaler moving from a proof of concept to a seal of approval, and Oracle gets power for about $320 million less than the sticker price (based on the gap between Bloom’s postmarket price on Monday, roughly $204, and the exercise price of the warrants).

Ben Walsh

12h

Stocks gain after Trump orders Hormuz blockade, says Iran wants to make a deal

Stocks shrugged off the weekend’s failed peace talks.

Josh Giddey #3 of the Chicago Bulls grabs a rebound during the second half against the Detroit Pistons on October 22, 2025 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Matt Phillips15h

Intel is having its best year since 1987

Intel is up for its ninth straight session on Monday, continuing the romp that has made it the top performer in the S&P 500 this month, ganing roughly 46% in April so far.

The series of deals Intel has recently struck with Alphabet on a custom chip collaboration and with Elon Musk on his Terafab project seem to be helping reshape traders’ views on what was seen only a few months ago as an ailing American tech icon.

That turnaround in perception has been nothing short of historic.

Intel is now up almost 230% over the last year. You have to go back to 1987 to find a better 12-month run for the stock.

Still, the forward-looking market is giving Intel credit for a turnaround that really hasn’t happened yet on an operational level. Wall Street analysts expect another year-on-year sales decline when Intel reports results on April 23, while anticipating that Intel can cobble together adjusted earnings per share of a penny.

All the same, the market clearly sees a future that, at least for now, it likes.

Luke Kawa17h

Neoclouds surge as Anthropic’s deals mean the scramble for compute is on

Just because software stocks are crushing semiconductors on Monday in a reversal of recent trends doesn’t mean the AI trade is taking a nosedive.

CoreWeave is on fire yet again, with strong follow-through after having reached deals to provide AI compute to Anthropic and Meta last week. Other data center companies like Nebius, IREN, Cipher Digital, and Applied Digital are also up big.

A scramble for compute is particularly great news for these providers of “surge capacity.”

Anthropic is producing AI tools and capabilities that people love. What people have been less than enamored with about Anthropic (especially as of late!) is access to compute, with myriad complaints of stealth token rationing.

OpenAI has reportedly argued that its immense cash burn to accumulate compute is therefore its competitive advantage over the Claude developer. Anthropic is now under pressure to spend a lot more on compute so that its customers are happy with the ability and availability of its offerings.

Similarly, a lot of networking/connectivity stocks that spiked on Friday, like Astera Labs and POET Technologies, are building on that momentum, with flash memory standout Sandisk up strongly as well.

Separately, PJM warned after the close on Friday that the US grid operator is looking to add 15 gigawatts of new power supply due to expected increases in demand tied to AI through Q1 2027. It’s seemingly clearer that there’s strong visibility into increased appetite for compute, power, and the other materials needed to facilitate the boom.

As such, AI energy plays like Vistra, Bloom Energy, Oklo, and Plug Power are also enjoying a solid start to the week.

What to watch as the biggest US banks report earnings

Private credit exposure will be in focus, but banks haven’t been trading in lockstep with BDCs.