Utilities surge, Nasdaq slips as CPI cools: Friday EOD wrap

Introduction#

A cooler inflation print steadied nerves but didn’t ignite a broad late-day melt-up. According to Monexa AI, the major U.S. indices finished the session mixed, with the S&P 500 essentially flat, the Dow marginally higher, and the Nasdaq lower as mega-cap tech weakness offset strength in semicap equipment, crypto-exposed brokers, and defensives. The afternoon shift was defined by rotation: utilities and select energy names climbed as Treasury yields drifted down after the Consumer Price Index reading, while portions of mega-cap technology faded into the bell. Earnings catalysts drove outsized single-stock swings—most notably in RIVN, ROKU, and PINS—and set the tone for a stock-picker’s tape heading into after-hours and next week’s thin, holiday-affected trading.

Market Overview#

Closing Indices Table & Analysis#

According to Monexa AI, the S&P 500 closed at 6,836.18 (+0.05%), managing to hold gains after testing an intraday high of 6,881.96 before fading into the close. The Dow ended at 49,500.92 (+0.10%), benefiting from industrial and defensive bids, while the Nasdaq Composite settled at 22,546.67 (-0.22%), reflecting late-session pressure in mega-cap technology that outpaced strength in semicap equipment and selective software/security. Volatility cooled modestly into the bell with the VIX at 20.60 (-1.06%), still elevated versus its 50-day average but trending down intraday, and the small-cap volatility gauge RVX at 25.64 (-1.95%).

Breadth was bifurcated. Utilities led decisively, while parts of technology and real estate underperformed on a closing basis. The afternoon narrative revolved around how a disinflationary CPI number tempered rate-trajectory fears, but that macro tailwind was unevenly expressed across equities: defensives and yield-sensitives were strong, yet high-beta growth and AI-adjacent mega-caps were still mixed to soft.

Breadth and Volume into the Close#

Liquidity eased from recent peaks. Monexa AI shows Nasdaq composite volume at roughly 6.27 billion shares, well below its average of around 8.49 billion, signaling that the late-day sellers in mega-cap tech lacked the kind of forceful follow-through that typically accompanies a wholesale risk-off. The S&P 500’s volume near 3.35 billion also tracked below its average pace. Price action signaled intraday optimism after the CPI release but an unwillingness to chase highs into the weekend; the S&P slipped from its day high of 6,881.96 to finish closer to the midpoint of the session’s range. That dynamic—buy the dip on macro relief, then reduce risk into the bell—frames the tactical setup for after-hours and the next trading day.

Macro Analysis#

Late-Breaking News & Economic Reports#

The macro hinge today was inflation. Coverage aggregated by Monexa AI indicates January CPI rose 0.2% month over month, taking the annual rate to 2.4%, while core CPI increased 0.3% month over month and 2.5% year over year, pointing to ongoing disinflation helped by softer shelter and gas prices. As Bloomberg’s afternoon programming underscored, Treasury yields slipped in response to the cooler print, lending support to rate-sensitive equities into the close (Bloomberg. The tone echoed across fixed income commentary as well, with market participants recalibrating the likelihood and timing of policy easing in 2026.

Even with that macro relief, equity reaction was nuanced. As several end-of-day roundups noted, stocks stabilized versus midday, but the week still clocked in as the worst since November, with all three major U.S. indexes down -1.20% or more on the week, reflecting lingering AI jitters and earnings dispersion that CPI alone could not erase. This tension—better inflation progress versus unresolved valuation and positioning risks—defined the late-day stasis in the S&P and the tech-led drag in the Nasdaq.

Policy Watch: Steel and Aluminum Tariffs#

On the policy front, multiple outlets reported that the administration is weighing an overhaul of steel and aluminum tariffs that could reduce levies on some consumer goods while keeping protections for domestic producers. Reporting from the Wall Street Journal framed the review as potentially category-specific and aimed at balancing affordability with industrial policy (WSJ. For equities, the direction of travel matters: easing tariffs could relieve input-cost pressure for automakers and construction-linked manufacturers, while modestly pressuring domestic steel pricing power. Investors in NUE and STLD will model margin sensitivity to any change in import competition, while downstream names such as F, GM, and capital-goods bellwethers like CAT could see incremental cost tailwinds if a rollback materializes. Until proposals become concrete, the market is treating the tariff overhaul as a watch-list item rather than a tradable fact set.

Sector Analysis#

Sector Performance Table#

Monexa AI’s closing sector slate shows Utilities (+3.55%) as the clear leader, consistent with a day anchored by falling yields and a preference for steady cash flows. Energy (+1.64%) and Basic Materials (+1.56%) followed, buoyed by selective strength in refiners, independent E&Ps, and miners. Defensive Consumer Defensive (+1.43%) and Healthcare (+1.35%) also climbed. On the other end, Technology (-0.68%) and Real Estate (-0.41%) lagged, underscoring how today’s disinflation impulse did not uniformly support duration-heavy equities.

There is a notable data discrepancy to flag. Monexa AI’s intraday heatmap suggested Technology was modestly positive and Real Estate broadly higher during parts of the afternoon, driven by semiconductor equipment and logistics REITs. However, the closing sector table above reflects end-of-day performance, where Tech and Real Estate finished in the red. We prioritize the closing sector prints for final analysis and interpret the earlier heatmap reads as mid-session snapshots that faded into the bell as mega-caps in tech weakened and rate-sensitive real estate slipped with lower risk appetite late in the day.

Rotation and Reversals into the Bell#

Utilities’ leadership looked broad and persistent, with names like NRG and VST advancing sharply alongside CEG, NEE, and PCG. The magnitude of the move—Utilities up more than three percent—signals more than just a one-day factor swing; it reflects investors funding defensives with profits harvested from high-flyers that have struggled this week. Energy’s support was more selective, with mid-cap resource and refining exposure such as MPC rising, while the majors were mixed as XOM lagged and FSLR added a renewable-energy kicker to the group’s diversity.

Materials bifurcated in a classic risk-hedge posture: gold miner NEM rallied strongly, with specialty chemicals like ALB riding battery materials optimism, while industrial gases like APD and select steel producers underperformed. Healthcare’s advance was anchored by growthier device and biotech leaders including DXCM, VRTX, and MRNA, while managed-care heavyweight UNH added defensive ballast. Financials’ modest gain masked stark internal dispersion: crypto-levered brokers COIN and HOOD surged on digital-asset strength, while card networks such as V and MA sagged.

Technology’s underperformance at the close reflected a familiar pattern this week: strength in semiconductor capital equipment could not fully offset softness in mega-cap platforms. AMAT led equipment on upbeat guidance and AI-driven demand, while NVDA and AAPL traded lower, and networking specialist ANET and security leader CRWD posted gains. Communication Services showed a similar split, with META and GOOGL/GOOG softer against strength in media/streaming names like DIS, TKO, and NFLX.

Company-Specific Insights#

Late-Session Movers & Headlines#

Earnings continues to dominate single-stock price action. In autos, RIVN jumped more than +20.00% intraday after reporting quarterly revenue of $1.29 billion, a modest beat versus expectations, and highlighting that software and services sales more than doubled to $447 million. The company also posted a narrower adjusted loss of $0.54 per share versus forecasts. The market’s message: the pivot toward monetizing software and services is gaining traction, even as automotive revenue fell year over year due to regulatory credit normalization and delivery timing. The after-hours and next sessions will likely focus on how sustained the software attach and gross-margin trajectory can be across the 2026 ramp, especially with R2 timing in focus (Monexa AI; additional context via company materials and coverage).

In connected TV, ROKU rallied double digits intraday on a clean beat and stronger-than-expected 2026 revenue guide. Adjusted EPS of $0.53 dwarfed consensus at $0.27, with total revenue rising to $1.38 billion and platform revenue up 18% year over year to $1.22 billion. First-quarter revenue guidance at approximately $1.2 billion and a full-year target of $5.5 billion both topped the Street. The late-day bid reflected conviction that CTV ad recovery and distribution economics are re-accelerating, with streaming hours also climbing. Investors will parse the cadence of platform-margin expansion as advertising demand normalizes (Reuters coverage cited by Monexa AI).

Contrast that with social advertising: PINS fell roughly -21.00% intraday after the company guided Q1 revenue to a $951–$971 million range, below consensus, and analysts flagged competitive intensity alongside tariff-related pressure on retail advertisers. The afternoon downdraft, amplified by multiple downgrades, underlined how sensitive ad-levered platforms are to macro and policy frictions when top-line growth is decelerating.

In restaurants, WEN rose more than +4.00% intraday despite guiding 2026 EPS to $0.56–$0.60, well below expectations of around $0.85, and reporting steep same-restaurant sales declines. Management’s plan to shutter 5%–6% of U.S. restaurants in the first half of 2026 reframed the equity story around cost control and a leaner footprint; traders bid up the stock on the day, but the setup remains execution-dependent into 2026 (Monexa AI coverage and company disclosures).

Healthcare produced its share of beats and volatility. MRNA rose around +8.00% intraday after posting a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss (-$2.11 vs. -$2.62 est.) and modest revenue upside, while reaffirming a path toward up to 10% revenue growth in 2026. The focus now turns to pipeline catalysts across RSV/flu and oncology, alongside cash-burn management. In specialty retail auto parts, AAP topped EPS and revenue expectations, with comps up 1.1% and margin expansion above 200 bps, tilting the late-day read toward a plausible turnaround but leaving investors hungry for fuller 2026 guidance.

Semiconductor equipment was a bright spot. AMAT rallied on notably strong guidance and AI-driven capital intensity across memory and logic, reinforcing a narrative that wafer-fab equipment spend is tracking ahead of cautious expectations. Yet the strength in equipment did not prevent mega-cap AI hardware from wobbling; NVDA slipped as headlines around customer workload diversification, including commentary from networking partner ANET, weighed on sentiment. That combination—equipment strength with a mega-cap breather—kept the Nasdaq in the red into the bell.

Financials offered a study in contrasts. Crypto-related brokers COIN and HOOD posted outsized gains in tandem with digital-asset volatility, lifting the group’s beta while traditional payments V and MA traded lower. Diversified financials like SPGI advanced, aided by index and data-business resilience, while JPM was essentially unchanged—an emblem for core banking’s steadier footprint amid market churn.

After-Hours and Next-Day Setups#

From a catalyst perspective, the tape pivots quickly to retail and policy. Multiple outlets highlighted that the week ahead features WMT earnings, a crucial read on consumer health, grocery pricing, and traffic in a cooling-inflation environment. Guidance quality from Walmart often dictates short-term factor tilts within Consumer Defensive and parts of Consumer Cyclical. Also on the docket, WSO reports February 17, with expectations for a year-over-year EPS and revenue decline; HVAC distributors are a clean way to read construction momentum and weather sensitivity into spring. Separately, SMX executes a reverse split effective February 17, a microcap event but relevant for liquidity screens and index compliance flows at the margin.

On the macro side, coverage pointed to upcoming Fed minutes, which, when read alongside today’s CPI, will refine the market’s view on the policy path. If minutes show comfort with disinflation but a high bar for rapid rate cuts, yield-sensitive leadership could persist but with choppier beta in long-duration growth. Finally, policy chatter around tariffs bears monitoring for implications across steel, autos, and capital goods; until specifics firm up, investors may treat these headlines as volatility catalysts rather than drivers of durable rerating.

Extended Analysis#

End-of-Day Sentiment & Positioning#

Into the close, sentiment looked cautiously constructive but fragmented. According to Monexa AI’s sector and heatmap data, leadership was hyper-selective, concentrated in utilities, parts of energy and materials, and idiosyncratic growth stories like semicap equipment and crypto brokers. That stands in contrast to traditional bull phases where mega-caps pull the indices higher in unison. The S&P’s +0.05% finish and the Nasdaq’s -0.22% decline, alongside a VIX at 20.60 (-1.06%), reflect a market that is neither capitulating nor chasing—sizing positions tactically around clear earnings winners and defensive income.

This bifurcation aligns with broader flow narratives highlighted in recent reporting that described an “anything-but-tech” rotation during periods of AI valuation stress, with non-tech equity funds drawing inflows as investors rebalance exposures (Financial Times; Reuters. Today’s session crystallized that theme in miniature. Utilities were bid for yield and stability; energy and materials benefited from commodity and refining dynamics; and tech’s internal dispersion—equipment strength vs. mega-cap hesitation—kept the Nasdaq capped despite positive micro stories.

For positioning, the late-day tape favored three practical tilts. First, emphasize defensives with visible cash-flow durability and rate sensitivity—utilities and select staples—which historically outperform as inflation cools and yield curves recalibrate. Second, within technology, prefer cash-generative sub-sectors directly tied to verifiable AI spend, such as wafer-fab equipment, and selective infrastructure/networking beneficiaries, over ad-dependent megacaps when weekly sentiment is fragile. Third, treat crypto beta within financials as a tactical tool rather than a core allocation, given its capacity to swing sector performance without reflecting credit fundamentals.

Market Anomalies and Cross-Asset Reads#

A few anomalies defined the close. Real Estate’s negative finish in the sector table contrasted with the mid-afternoon heatmap that showed REITs and services names in the green. The reconciliation is straightforward: duration rallies helped intraday, but risk appetite faded for long-duration equities into the weekend, and mega-cap tech weakness spilled over into other rate-sensitive clusters. Likewise, Technology’s closing decline belied the strength in equipment and selective software/security leaders; the gravitational pull of NVDA and AAPL was too heavy for mid-cap outperformance to fully offset by 4 p.m.

Cross-asset reads were supportive but not euphoric. The VIX’s modest downtick paired with softer yields confirmed the CPI relief, while the still-elevated volatility versus the 50-day average kept hedging costs above last month’s troughs. Materials strength—especially NEM—implied a parallel bid for hedges in gold-sensitive equities, further evidence that investors are not abandoning protection even as inflation decelerates. In energy, the mix of refiners like MPC and mid-cap E&Ps such as APA leading suggested that micro supply/demand dynamics are sharing the stage with macro beta.

Against that backdrop, the week’s context matters. News coverage highlighted that, despite Friday’s stabilization, the major indexes posted their worst weekly performance since November, pressured by AI jitters and single-stock landmines. The late-day curve for Friday thus read as consolidation, not capitulation or a resumption of momentum leadership.

Conclusion#

Closing Recap & Future Outlook#

By the closing bell, the message was coherent: a friendlier inflation print supported defensives and select cyclicals, but could not, on its own, reassert mega-cap tech leadership after a wobbly week. The S&P 500’s 6,836.18 (+0.05%) close and the Dow’s 49,500.92 (+0.10%) finish contrasted with the Nasdaq’s 22,546.67 (-0.22%) decline, with Utilities (+3.55%) towering over the sector scoreboard while Technology (-0.68%) and Real Estate (-0.41%) lagged on a closing basis. Volatility cooled but remained elevated relative to recent averages, and turnover was lighter than usual on the Nasdaq, muting the power of the selloff in megacaps.

For after-hours and the next trading day, focus narrows to retail and policy. WMT earnings will be a high-impact signal for grocery inflation, traffic, and price elasticity. HVAC bellwether WSO offers a timely read on residential and commercial activity as weather patterns shift. Policy headlines around steel and aluminum tariffs, tracked by outlets like the Wall Street Journal, could alter cost curves for F, GM, CAT, and domestic steel names NUE and STLD. Meanwhile, the Fed minutes will calibrate the slope of rate expectations in the wake of CPI; if the minutes lean patient, utilities’ momentum could persist even as single-stock dispersion remains high.

Key Takeaways#

Today’s late-day action validates a selective, evidence-driven approach. The CPI relief was real, and equities acknowledged it, but leadership rotated to utilities, materials, and parts of energy rather than snapping back to a mega-cap tech regime. Earnings winners like AMAT, RIVN, and ROKU were rewarded; ad-dependent platforms like PINS were punished for soft guides; and crypto beta made COIN and HOOD major swing factors inside Financials. For portfolio construction into the next session, emphasize defensives with yield, tech sub-sectors with line-of-sight to AI-driven orders, and high-conviction single-name catalysts—while keeping hedges in place as volatility normalizes from elevated levels.

Sources: Index, sector, and heatmap data from Monexa AI. Inflation and yield context via Bloomberg’s Closing Bell and Real Yield programming (Bloomberg. Policy reporting on tariffs via the Wall Street Journal (WSJ and broader rotation themes discussed by the Financial Times and Reuters (Financial Times; Reuters. Company-specific results and guidance per Monexa AI’s aggregation of corporate releases and major wire coverage, including Reuters for Roku and company materials for Rivian, Pinterest, Wendy’s, Moderna, and Advance Auto Parts.