Stock Market Summary – February 17, 2026

Major U.S. stock market indices ended lower, driven by investor concerns about market volatility. Alphabet saw a pull back after a significant fall in its stock price following concerns about shrinking free cash flow due to ambitious capital expenditure plans. They had planned to purchase 50 more Alphabet shares, increasing its weighting to roughly 1.55%. Amazon also saw its stocks slump by about 18%, losing around $450 billion in market value over concerns about its artificial intelligence (AI) spending plans.

AI company Anthropic launched the second version of its AI model, Claude Sonnet 4.6, marking an acceleration in the pace of AI developments in the tech industry and provoking competition with companies like OpenAI and Google.

Palantir announced that it is moving its headquarters from Denver to Miami, following recent trends of companies moving to tax-favorable states such as Florida.

Meanwhile, big movements were seen in the stocks of General Mills, with its shares falling by 7% after lowering its financial outlook for 2026, and Southwest Airlines, enjoying a 6% gain in stocks after receiving an upgrade from UBS to a buy rating. Furthermore, Israeli company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services enjoyed a 30% surge in stocks after German-based international container shipping and logistics company Hapag-Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft announced a $4.2 billion cash and external financing purchase.

Ford Motor spoke about its $5 billion investment in its new generation of all-electric vehicles, which will feature a budding technology used by Tesla in its Cybertruck. The tech, known as a 48-volt electrical architecture, uses the EV’s high-voltage battery to power everything, improving efficiency and saving weight.