Financial News Agency, February 18 (Editor Zhao Hao) On Tuesday (February 17), U.S. stocks opened lower and moved higher, with the three major indexes collectively closing slightly higher.
As of the close, the Dow Jones Index rose 0.07% to 49533.19 points; the S&P 500 Index rose 0.1% to 6843.22 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.14% to 22578.38 points.
Four of the 11 major S&P sectors rose and seven fell, with real estate and financials leading the gains and energy and consumer staples leading the declines. Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said that Iran and the United States had reached agreement on the guiding principles for negotiations, and Brent oil fell by about 1.8%.
Software stocks continued to be under pressure, with AppLovin falling 3.66%, Salesforce falling 2.86%, Datadog falling 2.11%, and Google and Microsoft falling more than 1%. The iShares Expanded Technology Software Industry ETF (IGV) fell 2.19% and has fallen 23.23% so far this year.
Analysts believe that investors are worried that artificial intelligence (AI) tools may replace certain software vendors. During the session, Anthropic released a new model, Claude Sonnet 4.6, which can perform computer operations that require multiple steps and coordinate information across multiple browser tabs.
Leah Bennett, chief investment strategist at Concurrent Investment Advisors, commented, "We need time to observe the profitability of these software companies. Companies that cannot compete and lack advantages will face difficulties."
Bennett added that this turbulence will also prompt the market to finally identify winners and losers in the space.
"AI innovation and the disruptive impact it brings are shaking valuation multiples in all areas of the market, prompting investors to focus on specific risks rather than changes in broader risk exposures," said Scott Chronert, Citi's U.S. equity strategist.
"Currently, the U.S. equity narrative is disconnected from favorable medium-term fundamental trends. Companies will be forced to prove to the market that they have longer-term business moats, which is likely to be the theme of earnings season unless the prospect of a macroeconomic soft landing is refocused."
Popular stock performance
Large technology stocks were mixed. (Arranged by market value) Nvidia rose 1.2%, Apple rose 3.17%, Google C fell 1.05%, Microsoft fell 1.11%, Meta fell 0.08%, and Tesla fell 1.63%. Amazon rose 1.19%, ending its nine-game losing streak.
In terms of Chinese concept stocks, Livermore's leading index of Chinese concept stocks rose 0.12%, and the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index fell 0.1%.
Popular Chinese concept stocks had mixed gains and losses, with Hesai up 3.96%, Pinduoduo up 1.55%, and JD.com up 0.7%; Tencent Music fell 3.28%, TAL fell 3.2%, and NIO fell 0.61%.
company news
[NVIDIA and Meta announce a multi-year strategic partnership. Meta will deploy millions of NVIDIA chips]
NVIDIA and Meta Platforms announce multi-year strategic partnership. Meta is already the second-largest buyer of Nvidia chips. Under the agreement, Meta will deploy millions of Nvidia chips. The cooperation between the two parties covers local deployment, cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. NVIDIA said this cooperation represents the first large-scale deployment of a pure NVIDIA Grace platform, supported by co-design and software optimization investment in CPU ecosystem libraries.
[Apple is accelerating the development of three new wearable devices]
Apple is accelerating the development of three new wearable devices. It's part of its strategy to transition to artificial intelligence-powered hardware, a space that OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc. are also vying for. According to people familiar with the matter, Apple is increasing its research and development investment in smart glasses, a pendant that can be pinned to a shirt or worn as a necklace, and AirPods with expanded AI functions. All three devices will be built around the Siri digital assistant, which will rely on visual context to execute relevant commands. Each product will be linked to Apple's iPhone and rely on a camera system with different functions.
[Berkshire Hathaway cuts its stake in Apple by 4.3%]
Berkshire Hathaway reduced its holdings in Apple by 4.3% to 227.9 million shares; it increased its holdings of Chevron shares by 8,091,570 shares, raising the total number of shares held to 130,156,362 shares.
[Strategy increased its holdings of 2,486 Bitcoins to a total of 717,131 Bitcoins]
Strategy announced that it purchased 2,486 Bitcoins for approximately US$168.4 million, with an average price of approximately US$67,710. As of February 16, 2026, Strategy held a total of 717,131 Bitcoins, with a cumulative investment of approximately US$54.52 billion, and the overall average holding price was approximately US$76,027.
[Pato Networks’ second-quarter revenue of US$2.6 billion was slightly higher than market expectations]
Palo Alto Networks Inc.'s second fiscal quarter revenue was US$2.6 billion, analysts expected US$2.58 billion; the company expected full-year revenue of 11.28 billion to US$11.31 billion, the company originally expected US$10.5 billion to US$10.54 billion; the company expected third quarter revenue of US$2.94 billion to US$2.95 billion, analysts expected US$2.61 billion.
[Canteng Electronics’ fourth-quarter revenue of US$1.44 billion was slightly higher than market expectations]
Electronic design automation/EDA supplier Cadence Electronics (CNDS) reported fourth-quarter revenue of US$1.44 billion, analysts expected US$1.42 billion; fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) was US$1.99, compared with analysts' expectations of US$1.91 billion. The company expects revenue in 2026 to be US$5.9-6 billion, analysts expect US$5.94 billion; adjusted EPS in 2026 is expected to be US$8.05-8.15, analysts expect US$8.03; adjusted EPS in the first quarter is expected to be US$1.89-1.95, analysts expect US$1.81.
(Zhao Hao, Financial Associated Press)
