The Rundown - Spotify Sets Growth Record, TSMC Signals AI Demand Is Real

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Market update for Tuesday February 10, 2026Check out the Public app for incredible investing tools and to support the show (LINK)Follow us on Instagram (@TheRundownDaily) for bonus content and instant reactions.In today’s episode:Markets rebound as tech stocks lead the rally. International stocks outperform US so far in 2026Spotify delivers blowout earnings, setting a record for user growth TSMC posts strong January sales, easing concerns around AI chip demand and benefiting from potential tariff reliefAppLovin shares jump after a short seller retracts key allegations tied to a major shareholderCoca-Cola stock slides following mixed earnings and cautious outlook as consumers pull back on spendingFun fact: MrBeast is getting into the banking business

Public.com presents the rundown. Your daily market update in under 10 minutes. My name is Zad Admani, and today is Tuesday, February 10th. In today's episode, we'll tell you why international stocks continue to outperform the U.S. We'll also recap earnings from Spotify and Coca-Cola. Then stick around to the end of the show to find out why Mr. Bees just bought a bank. We got a great show for you. Today, let's go. Markets kicked off the week on a strong note. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5%, while the NASDAQ did even better, a 0.9%. It seems like investors are jumping back into tech stocks.

It was the best performing sector yesterday, which was nice to see after the bloodbath from last week. One of the big winners yesterday was Oracle, which jumped nearly 10%, and software stocks more broadly are making a comeback. the ETF IGV, which track software stocks, has gone up 7% in the last two trading sessions. So shout out to everyone that bought the dip last week. Zooming out a bit, there's something interesting happening that's flying under the radar. International stocks continue to surge. Several global markets are outperforming the U.S. so far in 2026, including Europe, South Korea, and Japan.

In fact, Japan's Niki index hit a record high yesterday after their prime minister, to Kaichi won big in the election. You know, 2025 was a big year for international stocks and that momentum is continuing into 2026. You know, a big reason for that is a weakening dollar. When the dollar weakens, international investments become more attractive. Plus, it feels like U.S. stocks might be too expensive and investors are chasing better deals overseas. Now, coming back to the states here, we have an interesting week coming up. Remember, the January jobs report is dropping tomorrow morning. Economists are expecting 68,000 jobs added to the economy. And then on Friday morning, we get the January CPI inflation report. If both those reports come in better than expected,

stocks could be sitting at record highs again by the end of the week. As always, we're going to be staying on top of all of this. So if you're new here, it's a great time to get subscribed to the podcast and tune in every day to stay in the loop. Let's run through some headlines. starting with Spotify. Spotify just reported earnings, and they absolutely crushed it. The music streaming giant added 38 million users in the fourth quarter, which is the biggest quarterly jump in its history.

Their total monthly users now sit at 751 million, and premium subscribers hit 290 million, which is up 10% from last year. Now, looking at the revenues, that grew 7% to about $4.5 billion in Q4. and the company posted a profit of $1.4 billion for the quarter, which is triple what they made a year ago. At top of that, operating margins also hit record levels. So yeah, it was a monster quarter for Spotify,

and there seems to be two things driving the growth. One is Spotify Rapped. I know it sounds silly, but Spotify Rapt is very popular. More than 300 million users interacted with the feature, generating 630 million social media shares. It basically turns into the best free marketing campaign in the world. When you see your friends post, their Spotify rap, that gets people to sign up for Spotify. Now, the second reason for the growth

is that Spotify rolled out an enhanced free tier globally, bringing in a ton of new users outside of the U.S. The company also expanded features like adding audio books in new market and launching music videos for premium subscribers. It's also worth noting that Spotify has been consistently raising prices as well, the latest one being in January. A premium subscription in the U.S. now costs $12.99 a month up from $11.99 a month. Now, there were a couple of soft spots. in the numbers, like the company's ad revenue fell by 4% year over year. Now, that could be a problem for Spotify long term since ad-supported users are a big chunk of its user base.

Still, it seems like investors are more focused on the user growth right now. Spotify stock is up 14% this morning at the time of this recording, which is a nice relief for investors because Spotify stock had been down 28% year-to-date heading into the earnings report. Next up, let's talk about TSM. The world's largest chipmaker reported January sales were up 37% year over year, which is a strong start of 2026 and a clear sign that AI chip demand isn't slowing down. Here's where things get interesting. TSM is also about to get a massive tariff break from the Trump administration.

According to the Financial Times, the U.S. is planning tariff exemptions on imported chips tied directly to how much that chipmaker invest in American manufacturing. But TSMC has already committed to roughly $165 billion. to build and expand U.S. facilities, which could unlock major tariff relief for the company. Here's kind of how this deal works. If TSM builds new chip factories in the U.S., they can import two and a half times that factory's capacity into the U.S. tariff-free while the factory is under construction. And for factories that are already built,

they can import one and a half times the capacity tariff-free. So basically, the more that TSM invests in American manufacturing, the more factories they build here in the U.S., the more chips that they can import, report to the U.S. from Taiwan without having to pay tariffs. Now, ideally, the Trump administration would like TSM to remove all their supply chains to the U.S., but there's been some pushback there. Taiwan's vice premier just came out and said that moving 40% of the island's chip supply chain to the U.S., which is what the Trump administration wants, is impossible. TSM has built a supply chain and ecosystem over decades, and relocating it isn't very simple. Plus, I'm sure Taiwan doesn't want

to move their most prize industry to a different country. Anyways, the big picture here. is that chip manufacturing demand seems to be strong, and TSM might get some tear of relief in the near future as well. Let's talk about some stocks making moves today. App Lovin's stock is surging this morning after a short seller issued a rare public apology and retracted a damaging report. Now, a quick refresher on Apploven, it's an ad tech company that acts as a middleman for app advertising.

So if you've ever seen an ad on Candy Crush or any mobile game for that matter, it probably went through App Loven's platform. Well, last month, a short seller called Capital Watch published a report accusing one of App Loven's major shareholders, How Tang, of having ties to criminal organizations in Asia. And the report basically painted App Loven as a money laundering operation. Well, App Loven fired back. They sent a cease and desist letter and calling the report baseless. And Capital Watch actually issued a full retraction. It admitted they got the report wrong. As a result, Apple-Ape-Leven stock went up 14% yesterday and is up another 3% this morning at the time of this recording. I don't think I've ever seen a short-seller issue and apology. Now, on the flip side,

Coca-Cola shares are dropping after the company reported mixed earnings and gave a disappointing outlook for 2026. Coke said their volume growth was basically flat for all of 2025, and fourth quarter sales came in below Wall Street expectations. The bigger concern for investors is demand. Consumers are becoming more price-sensitive. Pepsi recently said the same thing and even hinted at price cuts to keep customers. Now, it wasn't all bad news for Coke. Coke Zero Sugar continues to crush it. Sales were up 13% for the quarter, and I guarantee the Edmani household had a big role in that because I'm addicted to it.

On top of that, premium brands for Coke, like Smart Water and Fair Life, are showing signs of strength, which suggests that people are still willing to pay up for drinks that they see as healthier options. Looking ahead, though, Coke expects revenue growth of 4 to 5% in 20,000. which came in below what Wall Street was expecting. And as a result, Coke's stock is down around 3% this morning at the time of this recording. Also worth noting, Coke's current CEO James Quincy is stepping down at the end of March and he's going to be replaced by Henrike Braun, who's been at the company for nearly three decades. So Coke is also going through a leadership transition. Let's wrap the show with a fun fact. Mr. Beast is officially getting into the

banking business. His company Beast Industries is buying StepMobile, which is a teen-focused banking app. Step offers fee-free banking accounts and secured credit cards for teenagers. It basically helps teenagers build credit before they turn 18. Now, Step Mobile was last valued at $920 million back in 2021. Now, it wasn't disclosed what Mr. Beast paid for it, but it probably was less than that since most of these fintech companies have seen their valuations drop since the 2021 hype cycle. And this acquisition by Mr. Bees kind of makes sense. You know, he has a growing portfolio of businesses and he uses his massive audience, a billion plus, to bring customers to his businesses. I imagine most of Mr. Bees' audience is pretty young, you know, teenagers, preteens, because why else

would you be watching a Mr. Bees video? So yeah, we'll see how this works out. Mr. B says he also plans to launch a finance-focused YouTube channel to teach people about investing and Roth IRAs and things like that. Maybe he can come on the rundown to talk more about it. So yeah, let me know in the comments, what you think about Mr. Beasts getting into banking, and if you'd actually trust them with your money. Well, all right, guys, that's the rundown for today. Hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. If you did, and you have like five extra seconds, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you listen to your podcast. If you are listening on Spotify, don't forget to vote in today's Spotify poll. Leave us a comment on Spotify. All that engagement.

really does help us out, and it helps other people find the shell. Thank you guys so much for listening, watching, and commenting. Shout out to Mike and Connor for all the work behind the scenes. And we'll see you guys back here tomorrow. Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's play. Feel the fun with Play-O-Jo. The online casino with all the latest slot and live casino games.

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