WSJ Your Money Briefing - What’s News in Markets: Gartner Woes, Super Micro Surge, Coinbase Volatility

Episode Date: February 7, 2026

Why are Gartner investors so spooked by AI? And how is the AI infrastructure buildout supercharging Super Micro shares? Plus, what’s behind the selloff of Coinbase shares? Host Jack Pitcher discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Until then, here's the news moving markets this week. Hey, listeners, it's Saturday, February 7th. I'm Jack Pitcher for the Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News and Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's get to it. February opened with fireworks, with markets posting one of their most volatile weeks of the the last year. The driver? Rapid advancements in AI are making investors question some long-held assumptions. Software developers, data and research companies, and IT services providers all got

clobbered this week on concerns that AI is a threat to their businesses. The sell-off was most pronounced on Tuesday when Wall Street analysts zoomed in on new features from Anthropics AI model, clawed. Its ability to assist with legal research and review prompted investors to dump shares of companies that focus on those areas. The sell-off quickly spread to software companies, with several recording their sharpest single-day stock declines since the pandemic. Investors buying the dip helps stocks gain back some ground on Friday, but the tech-focused sell-off caused an unusually large divergence among the major indexes. For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAG composite dropped 1.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial average, which has less software exposure, rose 2.5% to close

at a record high above the 50,000 mark. The broad-based SMP 500 inched 0.1% lower. Let's turn to one of the S&P 500's biggest losers for the week. Gartner, a giant in the IT research and advisory industry, fell victim to the AI sell-off and its own quarterly results. Not only did the company report lower fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday, its forecast for the year also fell below Wall Street's expectations. Concerns that generative AI will reduce demand for Gartner's data and research reports has weight on its shares for a year. Tuesday's results only reinforce those worries, sending shares down 21% for the day. For the week, the stock is down 25%. And since hitting it all-time high roughly a year ago, Gartner's shares have dropped more than 70%.

While Wall Street is reassessing its software exposure, it remains bullish on the so-called picks and shovels of the AI infrastructure buildout. Shares of companies making computer chips, servers, and memory have performed well so far this year, as big tech firms continue to increase investment and the data centers needed to power AI models. ServerMaker Super Microcomputer found itself in the spotlight this week, after it reported a two-fold increase in sales in the second quarter and offered a third quarter forecast that topped expectations. The company's CEO also told investors that AI infrastructure demand is powering its

strong growth. Super micro shares rallied 18% on the week, putting them among the S&P 500's top performers. And finally, an ugly week for cryptocurrencies hit the shares of several crypto-related stocks. Bitcoin fell below $64,000 on Thursday, a nearly 50% drop from its peak price last October. What's behind the decline? Skidish investors dumping riskier assets, the unwinding of leverage Bitcoin bets, and a rally in the dollar since President Trump picked Kevin Warsh for FedShare last week. Shares of Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the United States, fell along with Bitcoin this week, shedding around 15%. Strategy, a software company that in recent years became one of the world's biggest buyers of Bitcoin, fell 10% this week and is down around 60% over the past. year. And now you know what's news and markets this week. Today's show was produced by Alexis

Moore with supervising producer Jana Heron. I'm Jack Pitcher. Have a great weekend and see you next Saturday.