Friday the 13th faces the CPI test 13/02/2026

HOT stories for today

Market wrap:

• US stocks tumbled on Thursday as investors began to grapple with the downside of the artificial-intelligence boom, with concerns mounting that rapid adoption could disrupt entire industries and pressure employment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 669.52 points, or 1.3%, dragged lower by Cisco Systems after the networking giant slumped 12% on disappointing quarterly guidance. The S&P 500 dropped 1.57%, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 2.03%. AI disruption fears rippled across sectors. Financials, including Morgan Stanley, came under pressure on worries about the future of wealth management, while trucking and logistics firms such as C.H. Robinson plunged 14% amid expectations that AI could streamline freight operations and dent revenue.
• Real estate names, including CBRE and SL Green Realty, also declined on concerns that higher unemployment could weaken office demand. Software stocks, already under pressure this year, extended losses, with Autodesk falling 4% to deepen its year-to-date drop to about 24%. A sharp selloff in silver, a popular retail trade, added to the risk-off mood, with futures tumbling 10%. Apple slid 5%, on track for its worst session since April.Defensive shares attracted inflows, with Walmart rising 4% and Coca-Cola gaining more than 1% as consumer staples and utilities led S&P 500 sector gains, each up about 2%. Investors now turn to Friday’s CPI report, where economists expect a 0.3% monthly rise in both headline and core inflation.

Extreme stock dispersion builds beneath flat S&P 500

• The S&P 500 has gone nowhere in 2026, but the action under the surface has been unusually violent. As of Thursday afternoon, the index was essentially flat year to date, yet more than 60% of its members were beating it, according to FactSet. That’s a sharp break from 2023-2025, when roughly 30% or fewer outperformed, and a breadth shift last seen around 2001 as the dot-com unwind gathered pace. The split reflects a leadership reversal: software and parts of the “Magnificent Seven” have cooled, while energy, materials and consumer staples have surged.
• Breadth has been strong,  99 S&P 500 stocks hit fresh 52-week closing highs on Wednesday, the biggest single-day count since November 2024—Nomura’s Charlie McElligott flags “extreme dispersion” as the tell. Over the past month, the S&P 500 has been roughly flat, but the average constituent is up more than 10%, a 99th-percentile gap over 30 years. Historically, similar conditions have preceded market shocks, with a median one-year forward return of a 1.3% drop. The backdrop is a market still working off peak concentration, with the top 10 stocks reaching about 40% of index weight late last year, per Goldman Sachs, leaving rotations sharper and reversals more abrupt.

Stocks on the move:

• Lululemon (LULU): Shares slid more than 3% after Bloomberg reported fresh criticism that a newer version of its leggings is too sheer, citing an analyst note and online commentary. The company faced similar complaints recently over another style that was briefly pulled from its website, adding pressure as it works to reignite sales momentum.
• Cisco Systems (CSCO): The networking equipment maker sank about 12% after issuing weaker-than-expected guidance. Management flagged higher memory-chip costs as a near-term drag on profits, even as fiscal second-quarter results beat estimates on both revenue and earnings.
• Viking Therapeutics (VKTX): The biotech jumped 8% after outlining plans to move its oral obesity treatment into Phase 3 trials.
• AppLovin (APP): The mobile technology stock plunged 18% despite topping expectations, posting fourth-quarter earnings of $3.24 a share on $1.66 billion in revenue versus LSEG estimates of $2.93 and $1.60 billion. Shares are down about 44% in 2026.

Watchlist: HOOD, COIN, APP, CSCO, NVDA, SLV, AMAT, VRTX, CCJ

Key Economic Events Today:

EST time

08:30 am: USD Core CPI, CPI


Earnings

BMO (Before Market Open): ENbridge Inc. (ENB), NatWest Group (NWG), TC Energy (TRP), Camaceo Corp. (CCJ), Moderna (MRNA)


The TEFS Analyst team wishes you a successful day!