Stocks climb as investors position ahead of results.
U.S. equities moved higher Tuesday as technology and semiconductor stocks led gains, signaling improving sentiment after recent volatility tied to artificial-intelligence disruption fears. The S&P 500 rose 0.77%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.04%, and the Dow Jones advanced 0.76%, with strength concentrated in chipmakers and enterprise software.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surged 8.8% after Meta Platforms (META) announced a multiyear agreement to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of AMD GPUs for AI data centers, alongside a potential performance-linked equity investment. The deal reinforced confidence that large-scale infrastructure spending tied to AI remains intact despite recent market skepticism.
The announcement followed Meta’s earlier disclosure that it is deploying millions of Nvidia (NVDA) chips in its expanding data-center network. Nvidia shares rose modestly, but investor focus remains firmly on its earnings report scheduled after Wednesday’s close, widely seen as a bellwether for global AI demand.
Software names also rebounded. DocuSign (DOCU) climbed more than 2% after Anthropic said its Claude Cowork platform can integrate with enterprise tools such as Google Drive and Gmail, reinforcing the narrative that AI may enhance existing software ecosystems rather than replace them. Salesforce (CRM) gained about 4% and ServiceNow (NOW) rose over 1%, signaling improving confidence across enterprise platforms.
Market participants characterized the session as a relief rally following recent selloffs triggered by fears that AI could rapidly displace traditional software providers. Some strategists argue that such concerns may be premature given the operational complexity and regulatory risks large organizations face when replacing established systems.
Attention now shifts squarely to Nvidia’s earnings, which have become a major market-moving event. As the most influential semiconductor company and a core supplier to hyperscalers, its guidance is expected to shape sentiment across chips, cloud infrastructure, and software stocks alike.
📊 Market Wrap Feb 25th 2026
🧠 Analyst Notes
💬 Market Highlights
IBM Plunges After Anthropic’s COBOL AI Claims Spark Disruption Fears
IBM (IBM) suffered its worst single-day drop since 2000 after AI startup Anthropic claimed its Claude Code tool can help modernize COBOL, a legacy programming language widely used on IBM mainframes, triggering concerns about potential disruption; shares fell more than 13% in one session and are down roughly 27% in February, marking the steepest monthly decline in decades, although IBM’s Chief Commercial Officer Rob Thomas pushed back, arguing that translating COBOL code does not equate to modernization because the real value of mainframes lies in platform architecture, transaction integrity, encryption, scalability, and integration, with the programming language being merely the starting point rather than the core of enterprise transformation.
Trade Desk Q4 Preview: Ad Growth in Focus Amid Rising Competition
Ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings release, Trade Desk (TTD) is expected to report EPS of $0.58 with revenue rising 13.5% year over year to approximately $840 million, but investor focus remains on growth deceleration relative to Amazon Ads, intensifying competitive pressures, and recent leadership instability; although TTD has historically beaten earnings and revenue estimates in most quarters over the past two years, the stock has declined nearly 67% over the past year and faces weak valuation and momentum signals in quantitative ratings, while analysts remain divided between near-term caution and long-term optimism driven by proprietary platform initiatives such as Kokai, UID2, OpenPath, and OpenAds.
Zoom Launches Virtual Agent 3.0 to Enhance AI-Driven Customer Service
Zoom (ZM) introduced Virtual Agent 3.0 featuring enhanced AI capabilities designed to automate customer issue resolution, orchestrate multi-step workflows across systems, and seamlessly hand off to human agents, reporting that internal deployment increased billing support resolution rates from 0% to 30% within three months, equivalent to approximately 1,000 hours of labor saved, highlighting Zoom’s strategic push into AI-powered customer experience solutions with additional multimodal LLM and continuous learning features planned for rollout in the near term.
📅 Earnings Watch
With markets stabilizing after recent swings, Nvidia’s report could set the tone for the next phase of the AI trade. Investors will be watching closely for signals on demand durability, pricing power, and capital-spending trends across the technology ecosystem.
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