STORY: U.S. stocks tumbled on the last trading day in February, with the Dow dropping one percent, the S&P 500 falling just under half a percent and the Nasdaq losing just under one percent.The Dow posted its biggest weekly drop since November, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq marked their largest monthly declines in nearly a year.Friday’s session kicked off with a hotter-than-expected Producer Price Index that dampened investors’ spirits, explains Jason Betz, private wealth advisor at Redwood Wealth Advisors/Ameriprise Financial.”Today’s big PPI miss really throws water on this market’s hope that we’re going to see continued substantial rate cuts in 2026. I mean, it was hard for me to make a case that we’d see anything in terms of rate cuts for the first half of the year. Now, with today’s number, you got to wonder if we’re going to even see anything for the remainder of this year. Traders certainly don’t like that.”Friday’s losses were also driven by uncertainty over AI costs, revived tariffs and simmering geopolitical tensions.Financial stocks were among the hardest hit, after reports that Barclays, Jefferies, Wells Fargo and other banks face potential losses related to the collapse of UK mortgage provider Market Financial Solutions Ltd.Wells Fargo, Jefferies and U.S.-listed shares of Barclays all ended sharply lower.And tech shares continued to weigh, with Nvidia sliding more than 4%, extending the previous session’s 5.5% drop despite solid earnings.Shares of Zscaler plunged more than 12% after the cloud security firm reported a wider net loss in the second quarter.::Dell / FileOn the flip side, shares of Dell shot up nearly 22% after the PC maker said it expects revenue from its key AI-optimized servers business to double in fiscal year 2027 and promised to return more cash to shareholders.
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