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Your pulse on Wall Street! WallStreetBuzz delivers real-time market intelligence, breaking news, and expert analysis. From opening bell to closing bell, we cover major movers, market trends, sector rotation, institutional flows, and the stories moving stocks
 

•  23 Feb 2026
 

•   ACLX  
   
  -0.06%
•   DPZ  
   
  +0.34%
•   FBIN  
   
  -0.27%
•   GILD  
   
  -0.01%
•   LLY  
   
  +0.59%

The S&P 500 fell roughly 1% as investors digested renewed tariff uncertainty and rising concern over AI’s impact on corporate earnings. The headline decline masks a rotation toward defensive assets and highlights a subtle divergence: equities sold off broadly even as bond yields fell to 4.03%, signaling that risk repricing is outpacing fundamental revaluation. Market participants may be underestimating the persistence of this uncertainty into the second quarter, particularly as concentrated leadership among a few tech names amplifies index sensitivity.

The Dow Jones lost over 800 points, roughly 1.6%, led by industrials and legacy tech exposed to AI disruption. While headlines cite tariff news, the deeper pattern shows disproportionate selling in stocks with operational exposure to automation risk, suggesting a divergence between headline macro data and sector-level stress. This pattern implies that momentum in industrial and service components may remain constrained even if headline volatility moderates.

The Nasdaq declined 1.1% amid technology, software, and payment stock pressure. DoorDash and American Express fell more than 6.5%, IBM dropped 13%, reflecting AI-driven disruption concerns. The market appears to be pricing potential structural shifts faster than underlying earnings projections indicate. For sophisticated investors, this highlights that headline-driven “AI scare trades” may overstate near-term downside while underpricing selective recovery in core SaaS and payments franchises.

$ACLX Arcellx surged approximately 75% following Gilead Sciences’ $7.8 billion acquisition announcement. The jump illustrates how strategic M&A in high-growth immunotherapy can sharply diverge from broader market weakness. Beyond the headline, the transaction suggests continued consolidation risk in specialty biotech, offering a real-time signal for patterns of rapid repricing in innovative therapeutics.

$GILD Gilead shares were modestly lower, down 1%, despite executing a large acquisition. The market seems to underweight the potential operational synergies and pipeline expansion implications of the Arcellx deal. Tracking volume and volatility patterns here can reveal whether the broader sector sentiment is ready to follow through post-announcement.

$NVO Novo Nordisk fell roughly 16% after CagriSema failed a key efficacy endpoint compared with Eli Lilly’s competitor. The sharp decline indicates a divergence between headline growth expectations and actual trial outcomes. This pattern highlights the sensitivity of weight-loss therapeutics to incremental trial data and suggests continued sector-level volatility in pharma stocks focused on obesity treatments.

$LLY
Eli Lilly gained about 3% as investors reallocate from failed competitors to perceived winners. Beyond the headline, the differential move underscores rotational flows based on pipeline validation rather than broad biotech sentiment, signaling a micro-level divergence opportunity within the sector.

$DPZ Domino’s Pizza shares rose roughly 4% following better-than-expected same-store sales growth of 3.7% in Q4. The market may be underappreciating the resilience of consumer discretionary staples amid macro uncertainty, as operational execution in retail continues to diverge from headline macro risk.

$FBIN Fortune Brands Innovations increased about 4% after activist investor involvement was reported. The market seems slow to price in potential governance-driven efficiency improvements. Observing trading volume and insider activity could provide leading signals of operational momentum shifts before earnings updates.

$VFC VF Corp fell 3.5% following a downgrade from JPMorgan, which cited slow brand recovery. Here, the headline misses the nuanced pattern: sustained multi-quarter recovery challenges can outweigh temporary positive guidance, suggesting volatility may persist despite broader consumer discretionary stabilization.

$MNDY Monday.com dropped 7.2% and Freshworks lost 3% following Jefferies’ downgrade of software holdings. DocuSign declined 2% and Workday 1%, reflecting a sector-wide pattern of downward repricing in workflow and SaaS stocks exposed to AI disruption risk. For the institutional desk, this divergence highlights selective oversold conditions where fundamentals are not yet fully discounted.

$UAL United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines all fell about 1% amid flight cancellations in the northeastern U.S. due to heavy snowfall. Beyond the operational impact, the movement indicates the pattern of short-term weather-induced volatility intersecting with longer-term structural pressures on airline capacity and margins.

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