NVIDIA, the top stock by trading volume on Friday, closed down 4.16%, with a turnover of $54.87 billion. Following the release of its better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, NVIDIA's stock declined significantly for two consecutive trading days. The stock fell 6.65% for the week, dropped 7.29% in February, and is down 4.99% year-to-date.

The company earned $43 billion in a single quarter, with revenue approximately $3 billion above expectations, and its guidance was about $5 billion higher than analysts' previous models. This level of outperformance was perhaps foreseeable, as NVIDIA's hyperscale customers recently raised their capital expenditure forecasts, indicating sustained investment in chips.

However, analysts noted that the controversies surrounding NVIDIA's stock are "inherently long-term in nature." Despite the upward revision in capital expenditure forecasts, investors have been concerned about the sustainability of AI spending. Moore indicated that, given all the current investments, the free cash flow generation of hyperscale companies appears to be "under significant pressure."

Tesla, the second most traded stock, closed down 1.49%, with a turnover of $22.713 billion. According to informed sources, officials from several federal agencies have recently raised concerns about the safety and reliability of the AI tools from Musk's xAI, highlighting ongoing divisions within the U.S. government regarding which AI models to deploy.

This week, the Pentagon decided to place xAI at the center of some of the U.S.'s most sensitive and classified operations, agreeing to allow its chatbot, Grok, to be used in classified environments. The Pentagon had set a Friday deadline for one of xAI's competitors, Anthropic, to agree to relax usage rules for its models by the U.S. military. Prior to the agreement with xAI, Anthropic was the only developer approved for classified use.

Across the government, agencies are racing to deploy AI for various purposes, but the debate over which models to use has become increasingly politicized. Some senior U.S. officials, including White House officials, believe that Anthropic's outspoken stance on safety issues and its ties to major Democratic donors might make it too "woke" to be a reliable supplier. Grok's more relaxed controls, coupled with Musk's absolutist stance on free speech, made it a more attractive choice for the Pentagon.

Microsoft, the third most traded stock, closed down 2.24%, with a turnover of $19.915 billion. Microsoft reaffirmed that its partnership with OpenAI remains unchanged, stating that Azure is the exclusive cloud provider and that the relationship is solid. Both parties indicated that their cooperative relationship remains strong and core. Microsoft and OpenAI continue to work closely on research, engineering, and product development, building on years of deep collaboration and shared success.

Simultaneously, the intellectual property relationship remains unchanged. Microsoft continues to hold exclusive licensing and access rights to OpenAI's models and product IP. Collaborations like the one between OpenAI and Amazon were anticipated scenarios within their agreement, and Microsoft views the outcomes of such partnerships favorably.

Apple, the fourth most traded stock, closed down 3.21%, with a turnover of $19.085 billion. Apple agreed to a 100% price increase for Samsung memory chips. It was reported that Apple has finalized orders with Samsung's DS division for LPDDR5X chips for the iPhone 17 series, at double the previous price. Apple recently held an emergency meeting with Samsung's DS division to discuss supply arrangements for the first half of the year, aiming to ensure supply chain stability.

According to industry sources, "Initially, Samsung's DS division aimed for a 60% price increase. In the first round of negotiations, it proposed a 100% hike to test intentions, but unexpectedly, Apple accepted it directly to secure inventory, thus finalizing the price."

Netflix, the fifth most traded stock, closed up 13.77%, with a turnover of $18.627 billion. The company withdrew from a high-stakes bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, which investors interpreted as a sign of financial discipline. The streaming service showed restraint by not raising its bid in response to a higher offer from competitor Paramount. According to a joint statement from co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, the price required to match the competitor's offer made the deal financially unattractive. Investors breathed a sigh of relief, interpreting this decision as a responsible financial strategy and a focus on long-term profitability, rather than a missed opportunity. This positive sentiment reflects the view that Netflix avoided overextending itself on a large acquisition.

Netflix's stock volatility is not particularly high; over the past year, it has experienced only 7 movements exceeding 5%. Such a large move is rare for Netflix, indicating that this news significantly impacted market perception of the company.

Sandisk, the ninth most traded stock, closed down 2.54%, with a turnover of $11.595 billion. Since the second half of last year, the global memory market has experienced an epic bull run. As a star player in the AI memory sector, Sandisk's stock price surged over 1100% in the past 12 months and gained over 160% in less than two months at the start of 2026, becoming a rare "super-strong stock" in the U.S. market, labeled by many investors as a "core AI memory asset," drawing comparisons to NVIDIA's growth narrative.

However, this euphoria was abruptly disrupted on February 24 by a short-seller report. Well-known short-selling firm Citron publicly announced a short position on Sandisk, stating bluntly that the current memory market boom is merely a "supply illusion" and that Sandisk's valuation has entered a severe bubble.

Lumentum Holdings, the fifteenth most traded stock, closed up 3.53%, with a turnover of $6.168 billion. The stock has gained 78.88% this month, marking its tenth consecutive monthly increase.

CoreWeave, the seventeenth most traded stock, closed down 18.51%, with a turnover of $5.382 billion. The stock plunged today due to disappointing fourth-quarter earnings. The fast-growing AI cloud provider reported a larger-than-expected loss, provided disappointing first-quarter revenue guidance, and issued a massive capital expenditure forecast.

The earnings report showed that fourth-quarter revenue slightly exceeded expectations, but profits missed targets, and the first-quarter revenue guidance fell short of expectations. The company expects capital expenditure of at least $30 billion this year. CoreWeave maintained strong growth, with revenue increasing 110% to $1.57 billion, slightly above the $1.53 billion expectation. However, investors have been concerned about widening losses, and this report only intensified those worries, as the company's operating profit shifted from a profit of $113 million a year ago to a loss of $89 million.

Dell Technologies Inc., the nineteenth most traded stock, closed up 21.93%, with a turnover of $4.823 billion. The company reported impressive fourth-quarter 2025 results that exceeded Wall Street expectations and provided a strong revenue forecast for the next quarter. The computer hardware company's revenue grew 39.5% year-over-year to $33.38 billion, beating analyst expectations by 5.2%. Adjusted earnings per share were $3.89, exceeding the consensus estimate by 10.4%. The company's cash generation also improved significantly, with quarterly free cash flow reaching $3.95 billion.

Adding to the positive market sentiment, Dell forecast first-quarter revenue of approximately $35.2 billion, a surprisingly strong figure that was 21.4% above analysts' previous expectations.

Dell's stock is highly volatile; over the past year, it has experienced 20 movements exceeding 5%. However, even for Dell, such a large move is rare, indicating that this news significantly impacted market perception of the company.

The stock's last major movement occurred seven days ago, when it rose 2.6% after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Trump administration's comprehensive global tariffs. This landmark 6-3 ruling brought a wave of relief to the market, boosting both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The court found that the government improperly used emergency powers to bypass Congress in levying these taxes. These tariffs had placed significant pressure on corporate balance sheets, and many companies now welcome the prospect of potential refunds.

Dell's stock has risen 15.6% since the beginning of the year, but at $147.73 per share, it remains 10.4% below its 52-week high of $164.88 reached in October 2025. An investor who purchased $1,000 worth of Dell stock five years ago would now have an investment valued at $1,778.