Stocks erase 2026 gains as tech and crypto continue to slide; volatility rises

Investors continued to shun risk amid rising volatility.

Your Evening Briefing February 05, 2026 Stocks erase 2026 gains as tech and crypto continue to slide; volatility rises The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all fell. The benchmark index is now officially negative for the year. The VIX, Wall Street's fear gauge, climbed above 20. Every sector fell except for the defensive sectors utilities and consumer staples. Bitcoin set new cycle lows, and altcoins XRP, solana, dogecoin, and Chainlink revisited levels not seen in several years. Silver also resumed its slide. Stocks that moved higher: Broadcom rose as it enjoyed a halo effect from Google's plans to spend up to $185 billion on capex this year. Arm Holdings rose after reporting solid results and a cheery outlook as investors appeared to shake off the implications of Qualcomm's weak guidance. Nio charged higher as the EV maker projected its first-ever quarterly profit in its fourth quarter. Cigna rose as its Q4 results beat Wall Street estimates, although its 2026 guidance underwhelmed. Stocks that moved lower: Qualcomm tumbled after releasing gloomy Q2 guidance. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly dropped as Hims & Hers will offer copies of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy pill at $49 a month for starting dose. Retail favorites and high-beta momentum stocks took a dive, including Palantir, AST SpaceMobile, Rocket Lab, and quantum computing trades D-Wave Quantum and Rigetti Computing. Snap slid despite reporting a surprise profit beat in yesterday's Q4 earnings results, though its daily active users fell. Despite reporting an earnings beat after the bell yesterday, investors reacted negatively Alphabet's huge capex plans. Many analysts, however, raised their price targets. e.l.f. Beauty dipped despite reporting a Q3 earnings beat after the bell yesterday. Blue Owl Capital ticked lower despite reporting Q4 sales and earnings above estimates. IonQ fell after Wolfpack Research released a short report alleging the company has lost funding for key Pentagon contracts. Peloton plunged after reporting a greater-than-expected loss, lower-than-expected revenue, and falling subscription numbers in its Q2 earnings this morning. How the character of the AI trade has changed — for the worse — in 2026 A smattering of observations on how the character of the AI trade has changed this year. Read more. What does it take to get to the Super Bowl? Well, either you're playing, or it'll cost about four months' rent.  Action Network's analysis of income and rent prices across different US cities works out just how much a ticket to the Big Game might set you back. Read more. POST-MARKET MOVE (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) Amazon misses on Q4 earnings  Amazon shares slid after the company missed Wall Street's expectations for fourth-quarter earnings, though sales topped expectations. Read more. Google's Gemini is gaining but OpenAI's ChatGPT is still the AI chatbot leader Google's Gemini topped 2 billion visits in January.  Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 gains financial research, improved coding features It's a model-for-model battle between OpenAI and Anthropic, as the startups vie for dominance in AI coding tools.   OpenAI's Altman calls Anthropic an "authoritarian company" and says its Super Bowl ad is "deceptive" After Anthropic pledged an ad-free Claude in a Super Bowl ad that is a thinly veiled poke at OpenAI, Sam Altman accused the company of "doublespeak" and said it is dishonest. Nvidia reportedly won't release a new gaming graphics chip this year, a first The reported move is because of a global shortage of memory chips due to AI demand. We have the futures market — and Ray Dalio — to thank for the Chicken McNugget Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio reimagined the chicken as an entity that consumes corn and soybeans on its way to being consumed by you. Waymo announces plans to expand to Boston and Sacramento Waymo is operational in six US cities.  Was this email forwarded to you? Don't miss out on future stories — subscribe to The Wrap and get your daily dose of financial news straight to your inbox.  Craving more insights in your inbox? Subscribe to Chartr and Snacks for quality reads. We care what you think! If you have any feedback or comments, feel free to reply and let us know your thoughts!  Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more Sherwood Terms and Conditions Our Editorial Standards Contact Us Advertise With Us Unsubscribe Privacy Policy SHERWOOD MEDIA, LLC, 85 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025