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With Monday's losses, shares of Hims & Hers have lost more than half their value in the past 12 months

Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Hims & Hers Health stock sank sharply Monday after the telehealth company said it would stop selling its compounded weight-loss pill.
• Novo Nordisk said it has filed a lawsuit against Hims over its compounded weight-loss drugs.

Hims & Hers Health shares are tumbling after a major blow to its weight-loss lineup.

Shares of the telehealth provider were down 25% Monday morning after Hims & Hers (HIMS) said in a statement over the weekend that it would stop offering its compounded semaglutide pill, just days after launching the product.

The pill was marketed as offering the same active ingredient as Novo Nordisk's (NVO) Wegovy pill that received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in December, and was swiftly attacked by the Danish drugmaker. Novo Nordisk said Monday that it has filed a lawsuit against Hims & Hers asking a court to "permanently ban Hims from selling unapproved, compounded drugs that infringe our patents," and is seeking damages. Shares of Novo Nordisk climbed about 4% in recent trading.

Hims & Hers, which called the lawsuit a "blatant attack by a Danish company on millions of Americans who rely on compounded medications for access to personalized care," said it plans to "continue to fight to provide choice, affordability, and access."

Why This News is Important

Hims & Hers pulling its copycat pill from the market could reduce competition for Novo Nordisk. Rival Eli Lilly is expected to receive FDA approval for its own weight-loss pill later this year.

The FDA said on Friday that it plans to "take decisive steps to restrict" the use of GLP-1 active ingredients in compounded versions of the popular weight-loss medications, citing Hims & Hers by name in the statement.

The announcement from Hims & Hers last week that it would start selling the compounded drug initially sent its shares higher, before giving up those gains as Novo Nordisk attacked the product. Shares of Hims & Hers, which has run into conflicts with Novo Nordisk previously, have lost more than 60% of their value over the past 12 months. Novo Nordisk shares are down about 40% over the same period, while Eli Lilly has gained more than 20%.

News of the day for Feb. 9, 2026

The major indexes closed sharply higher on Friday to wrap up a volatile week of trading.

Michael Nagle / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Stock futures are slightly lower this morning after a Friday rally that pushed the Dow above 50,000 for the first time; investors are preparing for a big week of earnings reports and important economic data releases; Novo Nordisk shares are rising after Hims & Hers Health said over the weekend it would pull its compounded semaglutide pill, sending shares of the telehealth company sharply lower; Kroger shares are rising on news the supermarket chain has hired a new CEO; and STMicroelectronics shares are jumping after the European chipmaker announced a deal to supply Amazon. Here's what you need to know today.

Stock Futures Slip After Friday's Huge Gains

Stock futures are down slightly Monday as investors look ahead to a busy week of earnings and economic reports. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were down 0.1% recently, while those linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.2%. The major indexes soared on Friday at the end of a volatile week of trading, with the Dow gaining 1,200 points to close above 50,000 for the first time. Bitcoin was at $69,000 this morning, down from a Sunday high of around $72,000 but well up from last week's low of around $60,000, the cryptocurrency's lowest level since late 2024. Gold futures were recently up 1% at $5,030 an ounce, while WTI crude oil futures ticked higher to $63.75 per barrel. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, was at 4.24%, up from 4.20% at Friday's close.

Busy Week of Earnings, Economic Data Ahead

Investors are preparing for a busy week of earnings reports and the release of economic data that will factor into the Federal Reserve's decisions on interest rates. The earnings calendar includes reports from iconic American brands such as McDonald's (MCD), The Coca-Cola Company (KO) and Ford Motor (F), as well as releases from CVS Health (CVS), AstraZeneca (AZN), T-Mobile (TMUS), Robinhood (HOOD), Coinbase (COIN), Spotify Technology (SPOT) and Airbnb (ABNB), among others. The January jobs report is scheduled for release on Wednesday morning, while the Consumer Price Index is due on Friday. The Fed, which has a dual mandate to maintain price stability while promoting maximum employment, will be watching the data closely.

Novo Nordisk Stock Gains as Hims & Hers Pulls Weight-Loss Pill

Shares of Novo Nordisk (NVO) are rising while Hims & Hers Health (HIMS) shares are tumbling following the latest developments in the weight-loss drug wars. Hims & Hers said over the weekend that it will stop offering its compounded semaglutide pill just days after launching the product. The pill was marketed as having the same active ingredient as Novo's Wegovy pill that received FDA approval in December. The FDA said on Friday that it planned to "take decisive steps to restrict" the use of GLP-1 active ingredients in compounded versions of the popular weight loss medications, citing Hims & Hers by name in the statement. Novo Nordisk on Monday announced a lawsuit against Hims & Hers, saying it is asking a court to "permanently ban Hims from selling unapproved, compounded drugs that infringe our patents, and is seeking to recover damages." Shares of Novo Nordisk were up more than 5% in recent premarket trading, while Hims shares sank 20% to their lowest levels since September 2024.

Kroger Rises on Naming of New CEO

Kroger (KR) stock is gaining ground this morning following news the grocery giant has hired former Walmart (WMT) executive Greg Foran to be its CEO. The Wall Street Journal had reported on Sunday that the decision had been made and that an announcement was imminent. Foran served as head of Walmart's U.S. business from 2014 to 2019, before spending the next several years leading Air New Zealand as CEO. Kroger has been looking for a new CEO for nearly a year, since previous CEO Rodney McMullen was dismissed in March 2025 over an undisclosed ethics violation. Foran was identified as a potential candidate by Wall Street analysts in the weeks after McMullen was fired, as they said a former Walmart executive could help Kroger compete with the nation's largest retailer. Kroger's move comes at a busy time for executive changes in retail, as Walmart itself and rival Target (TGT) each recently welcomed new CEOs. Kroger shares were up 7% recently.

STMicroelectronics Stock Jumps on Amazon Deal

Shares of STMicroelectronics (STM) are surging after the European chipmaker announced a new deal with Amazon (AMZN). The company said Monday that it has agreed to a "multi-year, multi-billion" dollar deal to supply Amazon Web Services with a range of semiconductors. The chipmaker also said it has issued warrants that would allow Amazon to acquire up to 24.8 million shares in the company over the next several years as part of the deal. Amazon and other tech giants have laid out plans in recent weeks to substantially increase their spending on artificial intelligence projects this year, including building data centers and buying the equipment to run them. Amazon said last week its capital expenditures could reach up to $200 billion this year. U.S.-traded shares of STMicroelectronics were up 7% recently. Amazon stock was little changed after tumbling Friday following the company's announcement of the big spending plans and a weaker-than-expected earnings report.

Coca-Cola's quarterly earnings come as the drink maker's stock is near all-time highs.

Elijah Nouvelage / Bloomberg via Getty Images

A trifecta of key economic releases and earnings from several noteworthy firms will be of interest to market watchers this week.

Investors will watch for delayed January jobs data, consumer inflation and retail sales reports in the coming days. The employment and CPI reports. were delayed by a brief government shutdown last week; retail sales data for December was pushed back as a result of the 2025 government shutdown.

Traders will also be watching for earnings from Cisco, an artificial intelligence infrastructure provider, along with reports from other tech and pharmaceutical firms. Updates from consumer stocks like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Ford Motor and T-Mobile are also due this week.

Data on Jobs, CPI Inflation, and Retail Sales Set for This Week

The wait for January jobs data is expected to end Wednesday with the release of the monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report. Initially scheduled for release last week, the report was pushed back when the Labor Department was impacted by a brief government shutdown. U.S. employers added fewer jobs than expected in December, even as the unemployment rate ticked lower. 

The January CPI inflation report, meanwhile, is due Friday. Inflation remained steady in December, while the more-focused “core” inflation reading came in lower than expectations. Fed officials have indicated that they were waiting to see more improvement in inflation data before lowering rates further.

Market watchers will also look to see if U.S. consumers kept up their spending streak in the holiday shopping season with the Tuesday release of the December retail sales report.

Cisco, Coca-Cola, Crypto Stocks in Focus  

Computer networking giant Cisco reports earnings on Wednesday, which could provide clues about artificial intelligence (AI) demand. CEO Chuck Robbins said last year that the company was seeing “massive opportunity ahead” for AI infrastructure sales. Other tech firms delivering financial results this week include semiconductor maker Onsemi, microchip equipment manufacturer Applied Materials, and networking equipment provider Arista Networks. 

Several consumer stocks are also on the earnings calendar. Coca-Cola recently posted better-than-expected profits, and its shares are around all-time highs. McDonald’s report could shed more light on its customer base as more wealthy eaters have been frequenting the chain. Earnings from soap maker Unilever and online e-commerce platform Shopify will add to the picture on consumer health. 

Reports from Ford, Honda, and Ferrari will shine a light on auto sales levels, while financial updates from Marriott and Airbnb will offer insight into travel demand. Investors will also be watching pharmaceutical firms this week, as AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals are reporting. 

Trading platforms Robinhood and Coinbase Global are also in the spotlight amid a recent decline in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 

Quick Links: Recap Last Week’s Trading | Read Investopedia’s Latest News

This Week’s Calendar

Monday, Feb. 9

• Federal Reserve Officials Speaking: Gov. Stephen Miran, Gov. Christopher Waller, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic
• Key Earnings: Apollo Global Management (APO), Onsemi (ON), Loews (L), Principal Financial (PFG)

Tuesday, Feb. 10

• U.S. retail sales (December)
• More Data to Watch: NFIB small business optimism index (December), Employment cost index (Q4), Import price index (December), Business inventories (November)
• Federal Reserve Officials Speaking: Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack
• Key Earnings: Coca-Cola (KO), AstraZeneca (AZN), Gilead Sciences (GILD), BP (BP), CVS Health (CVS), Spotify Technology (SPOT), Duke Energy (DUK), Marriott (MAR), Ferrari (RACE), Ecolab (ECL), Robinhood (HOOD), Cloudflare (NET), Ford Motor (F), Honda Motor (HMC), Barclays (BCS)

Wednesday, Feb. 11

• U.S. employment report (January)
• Federal Reserve Officials Speaking: Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman
• More Data to Watch: Monthly U.S. federal budget (January)
• Key Earnings: Cisco (CSCO), McDonald’s (MCD), T-Mobile (TMUS), AppLovin (APP), Shopify (SHOP)

Thursday, Feb. 12

• Existing-home sales (January)
• Federal Reserve Officials Speaking: Gov. Stephen Miran
• More Data to Watch: Initial jobless claims (Week ending Feb. 7)
• Key Earnings: Applied Materials (AMAT), Arista Networks (ANET), Unilever (UL), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), Brookfield (BN), Airbnb (ABNB), Coinbase Global (COIN)

Friday, Feb. 13

• Consumer price index (CPI) (January)
• Key Earnings: Enbridge (ENB), Moderna (MRNA)

One More Thing

New legislation this year will let taxpayers deduct part of the interest they pay on some car purchases. Investopedia’s Elizabeth Guevara has more on what it takes to qualify.

Coca-Cola shares have rallied 13% since the year began

Kevin Carter / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Coca-Cola is slated to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday morning, following a record run for the soda maker's stock in recent weeks.
• Options pricing suggests traders expect the stock could reach new highs following the report.

The Coca-Cola Company is set to post its fourth-quarter earnings ahead of the market open Tuesday, with traders anticipating the beverage giant's stock could extend its record-setting rally following the results.

Current options pricing suggests traders see Coca-Cola (KO) stock moving up to 3% in either direction by the end of the week following the report. A move of that size from Friday's record-high close at $79 could lift the stock above $81, or bring it back down to about $76.

The shares have gained 13% since the start of the year, amid a broader rotation into consumer staples stocks. Rival PepsiCo (PEP), which on Tuesday reported better-than-expected earnings, has also seen its stock surge in recent weeks.

Why This Matters to Investors

Widely regarded as a bellwether for the consumer staples sector, analysts and investors will likely be watching what Coca-Cola's results could say about the state of U.S. consumers, and how America's food and beverage giants are navigating shifting tastes.

Since last reporting results in October, Coca-Cola has announced plans to transition to a new CEO, with company veteran COO Henrique Braun set to succeed James Quincey's nine-year tenure starting on March 31. The company's revenue is expected to come in at roughly $12 billion for the fourth quarter, up 4% year-over-year, while adjusted earnings per share are projected to rise by 2 cents to $0.57, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Ahead of the report, UBS analysts said they expect a solid quarter from Coca-Cola and that the biggest hurdle to the stock rising could be a high valuation compared to its peers. The analysts said it's possible investors may look to other consumer staples stocks for higher growth potential.

Of the seven analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha, six have recommended buying Coca-Cola's stock, compared to one neutral rating. Their average price target is just above $81, suggesting slim upside to Friday's record close.

Take A Number: A Striking Figure In Economic News Today

An aerial view shows cooling vent fans on the roof next to generators on the lower level of a Digital Realty data center in Ashburn, Virginia.

Andrew Callabero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• The data industry lost 6,700 jobs in 2025, underscoring that the AI boom has created very few jobs.
  
• The job slump comes despite almost half a billion dollars of investment in AI development and data centers.
  

The AI investment boom has been a job creation dud, even within its own industry.

Despite massive investments in data centers and artificial intelligence software—an estimated $427 billion in 2025 alone, according to RBC—the year ended in the midst of a job creation slump.

Remarkably, there were actually fewer people working in the industry at the center of the AI boom: in December 2025, 477,700 people were employed in "Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services" according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, down 6,700 from December 2024.

What This Means For The Economy

Past waves of technological innovation have spurred the creation of new kinds of jobs that did not exist before, but those job gains have yet to materialize from the current tsunami of AI investment.

Tech companies are pouring billions into the construction of new data centers and are even building nuclear power plants and gas turbines to power them. Elon Musk says he is going so far as making plans to build data centers in outer space for his xAI project. But very few people actually work in those data centers once they're up and running.

To the extent that AI is affecting the job market, the debate has focused on whether the software is costing jobs, not creating them. Several major employers have said they are reducing headcounts as they expand the use of AI. Economists have dubbed the phenomenon a "jobless profit boom."

Upcoming changes could affect wait times for Social Security beneficiaries.

Zhang Fengguo / Xinhua via Getty Images

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The Social Security Administration has been working to improve caller wait times, even as the staff has been reduced.
• But SSA workers say they are already overworked, and changes coming next month could make things worse.

The Social Security Administration has significantly reduced wait times for beneficiaries calling its national 800-number over the past two years. Next month, the agency is making more changes to how it handles help requests that may speed things up—or make things worse for beneficiaries.

Workflow management changes coming on March 7 will transition SSA employees from working only on local claims and cases to handling cases nationwide. The move is an effort to even out the workload for SSA agents. Separately, the agency will also roll out a new system that beneficiaries can use to schedule in-person appointments.

"These tools will strengthen SSA’s ability to provide Americans with expanded opportunities to schedule appointments and improve staff efficiency," an SSA spokesperson said in an email. "There will be increased availability for Americans to receive the support they need over the phone or in person."

Why This Matters

Social Security is the largest anti-poverty program in the United States. Many lower-income and senior beneficiaries rely on timely and accurate payments to cover daily essentials like housing, food, and health care, so service delays can quickly translate into financial hardship.

However, there is a chance the moves will instead increase the workload of SSA employees, who have faced a shrinking workforce for years. The number of Social Security beneficiaries continues to rise, while the agency cut 7,000 positions, or about 12.5% of staff in 2025.

"This ... may have evened out the workload a little bit," said Ed Weir, a former manager of a Las Vegas Social Security field office. "But that's before they cut over 7,000 positions. So all bets are off now."

New Policies, More Complex Work

Some SSA workers say they will now have to take time to learn different policies beyond their local rules, such as differences in state laws for Supplemental Security Income. Especially as more employees are moving between handling claims and calls to the national number, many say their work will become more complex, creating a higher risk of mistakes.

"Historically, if [beneficiaries] call their local office, they know to call back to the local office. They got at least an idea of where it's being taken care of," said Weir. "I think that's going to be an issue. [Beneficiaries' claims] are going to get lost in the shuffle."

Already, Social Security workers say they are overworked and underpaid. In a survey of SSA employees from the Strategic Organizing Center, a campaign organization for unions, 84% said their workloads got worse in 2025. The majority said their service speed and quality had decreased due to the amount of work they have taken on.

But the agency has been whittling down wait times since 2024.

Call Backs Speed Things Up

The average wait time for the national 800 number was about 30 minutes in the federal government's 2024 fiscal year, which ranges from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, according to the Social Security Office of the Inspector General. After the SSA transitioned to a new phone system in August 2024, wait times fell by an average of 10 minutes.

Wait times continued to fall during fiscal year 2025, which spanned from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025, and the average wait time for beneficiaries that year was cut in half to 14.6 minutes.

The SSA saw the best improvement in wait times in July 2025, when the average wait time was about 7.5 minutes after it shifted more agents to answering the phones.

However, it's important to note that the average wait times include callers who opt to hang up and get a call back when an agent becomes available. The wait time for those who accept the callback option is zero minutes, significantly reducing the average.

During the federal government's fiscal year 2025, those who opted for the callback option waited an average of 111 minutes before receiving a callback from an SSA agent. Those who did not opt for a callback waited on hold for almost an hour on average before speaking to an agent.

"The agency improved performance because it used a new telecommunications platform and staff realignments," the Office of the Inspector General said in an independent audit of the SSA wait times.

In the first three months of fiscal 2026, the SSA has said it kept phone wait times at an average of nine minutes. That may change in the coming months.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at a news conference in Washington, D.C., March 2024

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• The Federal Reserve’s decision on whether to cut interest rates again depends heavily on the uncertain “neutral rate,” the level at which policy neither slows nor stimulates the economy.
• With rates now at 3.5% to 3.75% after multiple cuts, Fed officials disagree on whether policy is still restrictive or already near neutral, fueling debate over next steps.
• Persistent inflation, shifting global dynamics, and unknown effects from artificial intelligence are complicating estimates of the neutral rate.

The debate over whether the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates again soon rests partly on a number that no one knows: the neutral rate of interest. 

It’s the rate at which the Fed has a neutral impact on the economy—neither restraining growth with high interest rates nor stimulating it with cheap borrowing. The Fed hasn’t been there in years, having slashed rates to near-zero during COVID, then hiked them above 5% when inflation spiked.

Today, rates are closer to more normal levels. After six rate cuts in 2024 and 2025, the Fed's benchmark rate is now between 3.5% to 3.75%. But how close the Fed is to neutral—or whether it’s already there—will help determine whether the central bank may cut rates again.

The uncertainty over that number may make the Fed a bit more careful in the meantime, so it doesn’t inadvertently push below the neutral rate and rekindle inflation with unnecessary stimulus.

Why This Matters

How close the Fed is to its neutral rate will influence whether borrowing costs fall again or stay higher for longer. For consumers, investors, and borrowers, that decision affects mortgages, loans, and market expectations.

“The Fed always moves more cautiously when rates are close to a neutral setting,” wrote Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics.

It’s a debate that’s set to continue after President Donald Trump’s nominee for Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, joins the central bank.

The current Fed chair, Jerome Powell, spoke directly on the uncertainty at his press conference last month. His message: rates aren’t so high that the economy is weakening significantly, but beyond that, it’s difficult to say. 

“It's hard to look at the incoming data and say that policy's significantly restrictive at this time,” Powell said. “It may be sort of loosely neutral, or it may be somewhat restrictive; it's in the eye of the beholder. And of course, no one knows with any precision.”

After three cuts last year, he said, the Fed is “well-positioned here to watch how the economy forms” and “let the data speak to us.”

Has it Gone Up or Down? 

One big debate among economists right now is whether the neutral rate has risen from its pre-pandemic levels—which would make borrowing more expensive for years to come.

The years between 2008 and 2020 were abnormal in many economists’ view. Despite interest rates being at ultra-low levels, the crisis-scarred economy never gained much steam. Inflation was mostly below the Fed’s 2% target—prices were so stubbornly subdued that it suggested structural weaknesses in the economy.

Demographics were one culprit, as an aging population in the United States and elsewhere saved for retirement—holding down interest rates worldwide.

“The current era has been characterized by much lower neutral interest rates, disinflationary pressures, and slower growth,” Powell said in a 2019 speech.

Now inflation is closer to 3% and may be stickier than in recent memory, which could drive up interest rates to compensate for rising prices. Global supply chains are being reworked, whether from post-COVID shifts or tariffs, and the impact on prices is uncertain.

Even more unclear is whether artificial intelligence will lower or raise interest rates. Perhaps it’ll make the economy far more productive, but it could also pose major disruptions to the job market.

“There is still much to learn,” Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said in a speech last year. “I counsel exercising humility about the challenges in predicting AI's effects on employment and inflation.”

What is clear is that the Fed’s forecasts for the neutral rate have gone up in recent years. At the end of 2019, the median Fed official thought it was 2.5%. Now, their median forecast has risen to 3.0%. That could give Fed officials an earlier stopping point for rate cuts before hitting neutral.

Fed officials, however, have a broad range of forecasts for neutral—anywhere from 2.6% to 3.9%. It’s why Powell says the Fed’s current rate is “within the range of plausible estimates” of neutral.

Restrictive vs. Accommodative

Three words are critical to understanding the debate in the months ahead: restrictive, neutral and accommodative.

When demand is too hot and inflation is rising, the Fed aims to restrict the economy and sets interest rates above neutral. If the economy is faltering, the Fed gives it an extra push with lower interest rates and thus accommodates for growth.

But since Fed officials define neutral differently, they also split on when they’ve struck the right balance.

Take St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem. Last month, he said he supports keeping rates at between 3.5% to 3.75% since “this setting is neutral” and thus appropriate for an economy that seems on track.

“With inflation above target and the risks to the outlook evenly balanced, I believe it would be unadvisable to lower the rate into accommodative territory at this time,” Musalem said, though he added he’d support cutting “if further signs of labor market weakness emerge.”

By contrast, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said this month the neutral is perhaps one or two rate cuts away. But he also said he didn’t pencil in any rate cuts for this year, since the economy’s current strength raises the risk of inflation persisting.

“I think we have so much momentum in the economy that we need to keep our policy rate in a mildly restrictive stance,” Bostic said, adding that “this is a time to be patient.”

And still others think the economy is a bit weaker—thus calling for less restrictiveness. Fed Governor Chris Waller, who voted in the minority to cut rates last month, said last year’s jobs data was “very weak.” 

Despite three rate cuts last year, Fed policy is “still restricting economic activity” and rates “should be closer to neutral.” He pointed to Fed officials’ median neutral estimate of 3%, still below the current Fed benchmark rate of 3.5% to 3.75%.

“I favored reducing the policy rate to strengthen the labor market and guard against a deterioration that would be harder to address once it has begun,” Waller said.

Investors remain mostly confident about future market returns despite selloffs, fears of bubbles, and geopolitical uncertainty

Investors remain confident despite market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty.

Prostock-Studio / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Individual investors remain confident amid market and economic volatility.
• Geopolitical unrest tops their list of concerns, followed by tariffs and inflation.
• Most still fear bubbles in the most widely held AI and tech stocks.
• Investors continue to believe in those stocks despite bubble fears and recent selloffs.

The recent volatility in the stock market and the deep selloff in many of the most widely held big tech stocks have not scared individual investors away, at least for now, according to Investopedia’s recent sentiment survey of our readers. While many think there are still bubbles in AI-related and mega-cap tech stocks, they continue to hold them in their portfolios and expect better returns ahead.

Geopolitics Tops the List of Worries

While the general sentiment is optimistic, 40% of respondents say they are either worried or somewhat worried about the stock market and their portfolios lately. That’s a slight increase from December, and given the drawdowns in widely held stocks like Nvidia (NVDA), Palantir (PLTR), Microsoft (MSFT), and Netflix (NFLX), their concerns are warranted. 

But a selloff in the stock market and their concerns about overvaluations in some stocks and sectors are not as high as their worries about geopolitical unrest. That is now respondents' top concern, supplanting tariffs and inflation that had been the top concerns in past surveys.

Bubbles in Stocks and Shiny Things

Individual investors have gotten used to investing in what they perceive as frothy markets, and most respondents to our survey believe we are still in one of those despite the selloff in some of the most widely held stocks. AI-related stocks like Nvidia remain their top choice for assets they believe are overvalued, but gold has been steadily climbing that list and is now their second choice for bubbly assets. 

The sharp rise in gold prices over the last year has dominated headlines, with the metal hitting multiple record highs, as many investors have flocked to it for its perceived stability. The volatility in gold prices over the past several weeks has been a stark reminder that no asset is totally stable in volatile times. Mega-cap tech stocks are also high on investors’ list of overvalued assets, as they have been throughout this bull market, now in its fourth year.

We Own What We Fear

While we may fear overvaluation in AI and big tech stocks, they continue to dominate our respondents' portfolios. Our top holdings resemble those of S&P 500 index funds and ETFs, as well as the Nasdaq 100. Individual investors have remained faithful to these stocks despite downtrends in many of them, including Tesla (TSLA), Amazon (AMZN), and AMD (AMD). 

Investors are flocking toward fear.

Rebecca Marrero / Investopedia

Investors Flock to Their Favorites

Not only do individual investors continue to buy and hold the big stocks they’ve owned for years, but they continue to believe that they will deliver the best returns in 2026 and for the next decade. When given a choice of up to ten diverse asset classes or securities that they believe would deliver the best performance in 2026, the Nasdaq 100 was their top choice, followed by semiconductors, the Magnificent 7 stocks, and then gold. Bitcoin, which has been in another dizzying bear market, was among respondents' last picks to outperform in 2026.

What Would You Do With an Extra $10,000?

Individual stocks still top respondents’ wish-lists of what they would do with an extra $10,000 if they had it. Stocks have been their top choice for most of the past 12 months as they watched many individual equities soar amid temporary spikes in momentum and retail trading activity. 

The fear of missing out remains very powerful among individual investors, and they have chosen to remain bold amid a dizzying flurry of economic headlines and the cold winds of volatility across the capital markets.

Research by Rebecca Marrero

Tech stocks sold off this week amid worries about excess AI spending and disruption of the software industry.

Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• The AI trade was hit with a double whammy this week when massive AI spending forecasts from Alphabet and Amazon amplified uncertainty about their return on investment and new tools from Anthropic sent software stocks spiraling.
• Some experts say this week's trading reflects a healthy reset of expectations that many on Wall Street thought were getting too optimistic.

AI was the rising tide lifting all boats. These days, it’s sinking as many as it’s lifting. 

Investor anxiety is building in tandem with Big Tech’s AI spending, creating an environment in which the slightest whiff of uncertainty can wreak havoc on stocks. The four hyperscalers that reported earnings in the past two weeks—Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), and Amazon (AMZN)—all laid out plans to continue aggressively investing in AI infrastructure.

Alphabet and Meta say this year’s infrastructure spending will be about double last year’s. Amazon on Thursday forecast 2026 capital expenditures of $200 billion, a 50% year-over-year increase and about $50 billion more than Wall Street expected. Microsoft didn’t provide a dollar estimate, but its capital spending the rest of the year is expected to be consistent with last quarter, when it rose by more than 60%.

“Just like last earning season, the hyperscalers are coming out with ever higher estimates of capital spending,” said Gina Martin Adams, Chief Market Strategist at HB Wealth Management. “And just like last earnings season, we're really questioning how much that is going to ultimately pay off for them.”

Why This Is Important

Concerns about an AI bubble pressured tech stocks throughout the second half of last year. Some experts say this week's tech sell-off has helped relieved some of that pressure and reset expectations that were becoming too optimistic.

Wall Street’s concern about return on investment has been evident in markets for weeks. Meta stock skyrocketed after it reported ad revenue growth accelerated last quarter as AI tools increased ad impressions and engagement across its network of apps. Microsoft and Amazon tumbled after reporting disappointing cloud computing results, their tidiest proxies for AI-driven growth.

But unlike last earnings season, investors are going beyond the debate over AI winners to ask: Who are the AI losers? 

That question weighed on software stocks last month, when names like Intuit (INTU) and Salesforce (CRM) slumped amid growing concern that new AI tools and the rise of “vibe coding” threaten to upend the software-as-a-service (SaaS) business. Those jitters became a full-blown panic this week when AI start-up Anthropic released tools to assist with legal work. By Thursday’s close, the S&P Software & Services Index had fallen more than 20% since the start of the year. 

Many executives and market watchers have called this week’s “SaaSpocalypse” overdone. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at an event Wednesday called it “illogical” to think AI will replace the software industry. Still, the pullback may signal a shift in the AI narrative on Wall Street.

“For three years, we only traded on the promise of AI as it was being developed,” said Adams. “Now, as it gets deployed, we start to really think about the economic implications of that deployment and some industry displacements.”

Some experts say the reappraisal of AI expectations is a healthy development for the market. Adams argued that this week’s trading has helped relieve stocks of some of the AI bubble concerns that percolated throughout the second half of 2025. “Already, we're down to just a 10% premium for tech stocks relative to the market," she said. "I think that's fantastic."

Investors appeared to feel comfortable putting chips back on the table Friday, with the tech sector leading a broad stock rally. After all, tech giants are still spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data center infrastructure and, while that may pressure their margins, it's still a boon to their suppliers.

An illustrative example: The profits of memory device makers have soared in the past year alongside demand from AI data centers. Shares of Sandisk (SNDK) are up nearly 150% since the start of the year.

Job seekers may be feeling a bit skeptical about the future of the economy.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• By some measures, the U.S. job market is stabilizing, but consumers are growing more pessimistic about its prospects, Fed officials noted in separate speeches Friday.
• One Fed governor said he was "cautiously optimistic" while a regional bank president said the outlook feels "precarious" for workers.
  
• An upcoming jobs report next week will provide some indication of whether the Fed's recent interest rate cuts have breathed any life into hiring.
  

Federal Reserve officials gave contrasting assessments of the economic outlook Friday, with one having "cautious optimism" and the other noting that to workers, the situation seems "precarious."

In separate statements, Fed Governor Philip Jefferson and Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly discussed how the job market has been slower than usual in recent months, although employers have avoided mass layoffs so far. Jefferson, speaking at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, noted the unemployment rate, at 4.4% in December, has "changed little" in recent months, suggesting that the job market is stabilizing after a slowdown.

Daly, in a blog post, highlighted that working households don't feel optimistic these days, cautiously or otherwise. Recent surveys of consumer sentiment show that people expect unemployment to rise and jobs to become more scarce over the next six months. And open positions are already pretty hard to come by, having fallen to their lowest since the pandemic in December.

What This Means For The Economy

If the job market takes a turn for the worse, the Federal Reserve could slash interest rates in an effort to stave off mass unemployment.

If the labor market is as fragile as the public thinks, that's a problem for the Federal Reserve as it tries to fulfill its dual mandate to keep employment up while pushing inflation down toward its elusive goal of a 2% annual rate.

"We’ve been in a relatively low-hiring, low-firing environment for some time," Daly wrote. "That may persist, but workers are aware that things could change quickly, leaving them in a no-hiring, more-firing labor market. With inflation printing above the FOMC’s 2% goal, this rightly feels precarious."

Fed officials have been divided about whether to cut the central bank's benchmark interest rate to help the job market, or keep it higher for longer to fight inflation. The Fed chose to hold rates flat at its most recent meeting in January, and is expected to do so again at its next meeting in March. Before that, the Fed cut the rate by a quarter-point at each of its three previous meetings.

Despite their contrasting assessments, both officials arrived at the same conclusion for the road ahead: keeping an eye on the economic data in the coming months for signs that either the job market is collapsing or inflation is heating up again.

"The current policy stance is well positioned to address the risks to both sides of our dual mandate," Jefferson said. "I believe that the extent and timing of additional adjustments to our policy rate should be based on the incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks."

The next important piece of economic data is set to arrive Wednesday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes its report on job creation and the unemployment rate for January. That report was initially supposed to come out Friday, but was delayed by the brief government shutdown earlier in the week.

Forecasters expect the economy to have added 60,000 jobs, up from 50,000 in December, and the unemployment rate to stay flat, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

"We must watch both sides of our mandate," Daly wrote. "Americans deserve both price stability and full employment, and we can’t take either for granted."