Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Closing Bell Brief for Thursday, February 26th. I'm Katherine Sullivan for The Wall Street Journal. U.S. stocks finished mostly lower today as the sell-off in technology companies weighed on the market. The Nasdaq dropped 1.2 percent following a decline in the semiconductor sector. The S&P 500 slipped half a percent, while the Dow ended nearly flat.
Elsewhere, Treasury yields moved lower after weekly jobless claims rose less than expected. Among individual companies, Nvidia shares fell 5.5% despite the company reporting record income and profit for its fourth quarter. The decline suggests a rising bar for artificial intelligence companies to satisfy investor expectations. Zoom communications stock tumbled nearly 12%.
Chapter 2: How does the overall market performance reflect on technology stocks?
The video conferencing platform issued disappointing guidance and reported adjusted earnings per share that fell short of expectations. Paramount Skydance shares jumped 10 percent after Warner Bros. Discovery said a revised bid from the company could lead to a better proposal than rival bidder Netflix. Meanwhile, Netflix stock rose over 2 percent. JM Smucker shares rallied 9 percent today.
The packaged food maker reached an agreement to appoint two new members to its board of directors as core parts of its business struggle. And Baidu shares dropped nearly 6%. The Chinese technology company reported a slide in profit in the third consecutive quarter of declining revenue.
Heads up, an artificial intelligence tool helped us make this episode by creating summaries that were based on WSJ reporting and then reviewed and adapted by an editor. We'll have a lot more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's What's News podcast. You can add it to your playlist on your smart speaker or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.