February 17, 2026

Markets:

Stock futures were trading lower Tuesday, as Wall Street struggles to regain its footing after yet another losing week.

The New York Stock Exchange was closed on Monday in observance of Presidents’ Day.

The S&P 500 is coming off its second consecutive losing week as fears about artificial intelligence’s disruption hit industries such as real estate, trucking and financial services. Both the S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow lost more than 1% last week, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost more than 2%.

Those concerns appeared to overshadow the latest consumer price index reading released Friday. The headline CPI data came in softer than economists polled by Dow Jones predicted for January.

Investors will get more insight into the path of inflation this week, with the personal consumption expenditure report slated for Friday. Before then, they’ll monitor Federal Reserve meeting minutes on Wednesday.

Portfolio:

We enter the new trading week holding positions in ONDS, CORZ, TGB, and SD.  This volatility will continue for now and we are still range bound.  

Two scenarios we are watching as we head into NVDA earnings next week;  either 591 on Q's or 580 (the 200d) will be tested and then we break higher.  WE will see new highs still.  We just can play both sides of the trade like we have been. 

Wild card prior to NVDA earnings this week is the injection of liquidity coming into the markets this week.  Projected 16b by end of week.  Let's see how the market intakes that.  

One other key item to note;  The spread between average single-stock 2-week volatility and the Nasdaq 100's volatility is up to 20.7 points, the highest since 2020.  Short interest in the technology sector ETF, $XLK, is up to a 1.8%, the highest in at least 6 years. This percentage has DOUBLED over the last few weeks.  A tech stock short-squeeze is coming!

Be ready today but stay patient.  Today will have swings like Friday.  We look to pinpoint opportunity and move in.