The stock market suffered major losses, with the Nasdaq plunging to 2025 lows before a Friday bounce. Nvidia dived as earnings and guidance failed to wow, while President Donald Trump made several more tariff announcements. Snowflake and Nutanix were big earnings winners, but Hims & Hers Health dived. Tesla dived despite rolling out the Model Y and FSD in China. The 10-year Treasury yield sold off to 2025 lows.
Stock Market Sells Off
The Nasdaq plunged to 2025 lows, led by Nvidia, before bouncing somewhat Friday from the 200-day line. The S&P 500 fell well below the 50-day line while the Russell 2000 sank below the 200-day. The Dow Jones edged higher, aided by financials, but has been hitting resistance at the 50-day. Treasury yields tumbled to 2025 lows.
Inflation Slows, But So Does The Economy
The latest data showed that disinflation continues, but the economy is slowing as business and consumers brace for Trump tariffs. The Fed's key inflation rate fell to a seven-month low of 2.6%, matching the lowest in nearly four years. The good inflation news should give the Fed more leeway to respond if the labor market slows further, even if Trump tariffs and tax cuts could produce an inflation bump. Waning consumer confidence contributed to a surprising 0.2% fall in personal consumption expenditures in January. Consumption appears to have bounced back in February, which may reflect consumers getting ahead of tariff-related price increases. Meanwhile, the trade deficit soared to a record $153.3 billion in January as imports of industrial supplies surged 33% to get ahead of tariffs. New jobless claims jumped to 242,000 from 220,000 in the week through Feb. 22, as DOGE's federal government layoffs had a small effect. Weather also may have been a factor.
Nvidia Falls On Declining Margins
AI chipmaker Nvidia delivered a modest beat-and-raise earnings report for its fiscal fourth quarter. Sales of its Blackwell processors exceeded expectations but led to lower profit margins. Q4 EPS leaped 71% while sales soared 78% to $39.33 billion, but Nvidia's adjusted gross margin declined to 73.5% in vs. 75% in Q3 and 76.7% in the year-earlier period. It expects its adjusted gross margin to slip to 71% in the current quarter as it ramps Blackwell production. Nvidia forecast a return to mid-70s gross margins later in the fiscal year. For the current quarter, Nvidia forecast revenue of $43 billion, up 65%. Nvidia stock tumbled after the report.
Salesforce Falls On Revenue Guidance
Salesforce said adjusted Q4 earnings per share rose 19%, beating views. But sales climbed 10% to $9.9 billion, slightly missing. Current remaining performance obligations, known as CRPO bookings, edged by views. But the business software giant guided lower on fiscal 2026 revenue. Shares fell solidly for the week, hitting a four-month low.
Snowflake Beats, Outlook Strong
Snowflake said Q4 EPS fell 14%, but that topped consensus. So did revenue, rising 27% to $986.8 million. For fiscal 2026, Snowflake guided slightly higher product revenue growth. CFO Michael Scarpelli announced his plans to retire. Shares jumped on earnings, rising slightly for the week.
Nutanix Gaps Up On Results
Nutanix reported a 22% EPS gain with revenue up 16% to $654.7 million, both beating. The maker of cloud-computing network management software hiked its fiscal 2025 revenue outlook to a range of $2.495 billion to $2.515 billion. Shares gapped out of a base.
Tesla Dives Amid Brand Concerns
Tesla began deliveries of the new Model Y in China on Wednesday, with U.S. and European deliveries set to start in March. The refreshed crossover is key to Tesla's 2025 growth prospects, though the updated Model 3, S and X failed to get a lasting sales boost. Also in the past week, Tesla began rolling out some more driver-assist features in China, but not the full Full Self-Driving in the U.S. The current features appear to lag many rival driver-assist systems that are coming standard in China. Also, Elon Musk's impact on the Tesla brand appears to hitting sales in the U.S. and China. Tesla stock plunged, extending a losing streak to six weeks and testing last-ditch support.
Cava Earnings, Outlook Miss
Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava and Sweetgreen gave disappointing 2025 outlooks after missing fourth-quarter earnings expectations. Cava more than doubled earnings per share but still fell short. Revenue grew 28% as same-restaurant sales rose 21%, with both outpacing views. But investments to keep growing are weighing on outlook, analysts said. Fast-casual dining peer Sweetgreen widened Q4 losses by a penny to 25 cents a share. Revenue growth slowed to 5%, also missing. Sweetgreen stock rose for the week after hitting a nine-month low. Cava stock slumped to a six-month low.
Axon Crushes Views But Worries Continue
Axon Enterprise blew away fourth-quarter forecasts, as EPS surged 84%, with growth accelerating for a second straight quarter. Sales climbed nearly 34% to $575.145 million. Axon's 2025 outlook calls for 25% revenue growth at the midpoint. The results arrested Axon's stock recent 30% dive with a 15% rebound, though it gave up nearly all of those gains. Axon highlighted its biggest-ever contract, for body cameras and its Fusus real-time crime center solutions, with a global logistics company. Its AI bundle released in late October already nabbed 10 contracts. Taser revenue grew 37% from a year ago, as Axon works to keep up with demand for the newest version of its weapon. Meanwhile, Axon dismissed any DOGE effect on federal law enforcement contracts, but didn't highlight any big federal contracts in the works.
Data Storage Rivals Tumble
NetApp and Pure Storage both sold off sharply after posting January-quarter results. NetApp sales grew 2% to $1.64 billion, missing estimates, while a 2% EPS decline met views. NetApp's chief executive blamed "inconsistent execution" for the sales shortfall but said cloud storage and AI were bright spots. Pure Storage, meanwhile, beat estimates by boosting sales 11% to $880 million while earnings sank 10% But gross margins missed.
Gym Operators Top Views
Planet Fitness EPS grew 17% as revenue popped 19% to $340.45 million. Both beat estimates and accelerated sharply from Q3, boosted by the first membership fee hike in years. But shares of the low-cost gym tumbled on guidance for slower earnings and same-club-sales growth. High-end rival Life Time Holdings also beat Q4 views. Earnings grew 42% though that slowed from triple-digit gains in the prior two quarters. Shares were little changed for the week near highs, holding key support.
Home Depot, Lowe's Cautious
Home Depot and Lowe's both surprised with a return to comparable-store sales growth in Q4, buoyed in part from rebuilding after recent hurricanes. But it didn't appear to carry over into Q1. Both home-improvement giants offered more cautious earnings outlooks than expected. Home Depot guiding for a 2% decline in adjusted EPS, while the midpoint of Lowe's outlook signaling low-single-digit growth. Both stocks rebounded from multimonth lows on earnings and the continued fall in mortgage rates.
Stock Market News In Brief
Super Micro Computer surged Wednesday after the data-center hardware specialist filed several delinquent reports with the SEC to avoid delisting from the Nasdaq. But shares plunged for the week amid the market sell-off and as two corporate officers disclosed plans to sell Supermicro stock.
Dell Technologies beat fiscal Q4 earnings estimates but sales missed and while Q1 guidance also was light. Strong AI server and storage sales helped offset soft PC sales. Shares tumbled.
Hims & Hers Health plummeted Tuesday after the compounding pharmacy issued a bullish outlook for 2025 that still includes its knockoff version of weight-loss drug semaglutide. Though the Food and Drug Administration removed semaglutide from its drugs shortage list, Hims guided to $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion in sales this year, with some $725 million from weight-loss drugs that mimic the GLP-1 hormone, including semaglutide.
Masimo beat adjusted earnings expectations on Wednesday, rising 44%. Sales were in line with the company's preannouncement, up 9% to $601 million. The medtech company reiterated its sales outlook for 2025, but hiked its profit view.
TJX Cos. reported Q4 EPS grew 10%, while revenue fell a fraction to $16.35 billion, both slightly beating views. Same-store sales grew 5%. The off-price retail giant guided lower on fiscal 2026.
Urban Outfitters EPS grew 51%, the second straight quarter of faster growth. Revenue rose 10% to $1.64 billion, picking up from Q3's 6%, amid solid gains across its retail chains. Shares jumped, retaking a key level and flirting with early buy points.
Norwegian Cruise Line reported Q4 EPS that easily beat views vs. a year-earlier loss. Revenue grew 6% to $2.11 billion, just beating. The cruise line noted consumer demand remains strong for its 2025 and 2026 offerings. But it guided low on Q1 and 2025 earnings. Shares tumbled to a four-month low.
EBay tumbled after guiding slightly lower for Q1 revenue. Adjusted Q4 EPS grew 17% while sales edged up 1% to $2.58 billion. Shares, which briefly topped a buy point before results, sold off hard.
Maplebear reported a 20% EPS gain, beating Q4 expectations. But the Instacart app owner missed revenue views while core profit guidance also fell short. Shares dived.
Coupang reported stronger-than-expected earnings as revenue rose 21% to $7.97 billion. Shares of South Korea's largest e-commerce site flirted with a breakout but fell for the week.
Alibaba will spend $52 billion over the next three years on cloud-computing and AI infrastructure. The Chinese tech giant is competing to provide the best AI model in China vs. buzzy startup DeepSeek as well as other titans such as Baidu and WeChat-parent Tencent. Alibaba's efforts – including a partnership with Apple – have helped its stock rally 60% this year. But shares pulled back amid the heavy spending plans.
