Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Dow Futures Decline Amid Kevin Warsh's Fed Chair Nomination-Walt Disney, Strategy, GameStop In Focus

U.S. stock futures fell on Monday following Friday’s declines. Futures of major benchmark indices were lower.

President Donald Trump‘s nomination of Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve was followed by a sharp sell-off in Friday’s session.

Precious metals Gold and Silver also saw a sharp drop in their prices after a record-breaking rally in January.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.22%, and the two-year bond was at 3.52%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing an 85.1% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged in March.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were lower in premarket on Monday. The SPY was down 0.61% at $687.75, while the QQQ declined 0.85% to $616.57.

Stocks In Focus

Walt Disney

• Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) was 0.23% lower ahead of its earnings scheduled to be released before the opening bell. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.56 per share on the revenue of $25.68 billion.

• DIS maintains a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms with a solid growth ranking, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings.

Strategy

• Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) shares sank 7.15% as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) prices dropped below $78,000 per coin and Michael Saylor posted on X with the caption, "More Orange," suggesting Strategy may buy the latest dip.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MSTR maintains a weaker price trend in the medium, short, and long terms with a poor value ranking.

AZZ

• AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) shares rose 0.96% after announcing a new $100 million share repurchase program.

• AZZ maintains a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms with a solid quality ranking, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings.

GameStop

• GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) advanced 2.97% after CEO Ryan Cohen said that he is aiming to transform GME into a $100 billion powerhouse by pursuing a major acquisition within the consumer or retail sectors.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that GME maintains a strong price trend over the short, medium, and long terms with a good growth ranking.

NXP Semiconductors

• NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) tumbled 1.14% as analysts expect it to post quarterly earnings of $1.67 per share on revenue of $81.47 billion after the closing bell.

• NXPI maintains a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms with a poor quality ranking, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings.

Cues From Last Session

Materials, tech, and financial sectors led the S&P 500’s decline on Friday, though consumer staples and energy stocks managed to finish higher.

Insights From Analysts

Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, views 2026 not as a single path, but as a “tense tug-of-war between three distinct futures.” He warns that the traditional bell curve of economic forecasting has been replaced by “fat tails,” where extreme outcomes—both virtuous and vicious—are equally plausible.

At the center of his outlook is a “Goldilocks-lite” scenario driven by massive AI capital expenditure. However, El-Erian is concerned by an “unsettling phenomenon”: the decoupling of employment from GDP.

He notes that while AI and automation may fuel growth, they could lead to a “relatively stagnant labor market,” exacerbating the K-shaped recovery and hitting lower-income households hardest.

For the stock market, El-Erian highlights a “rising tide of volatility” and a shift toward “policy divergence.” With the nomination of Kevin Warsh to lead the Fed, he expects a push for modernization and independence, though he cautions that the era of synchronized global easing is over.

“We are looking not at a normal distribution, but at a multi-modal one… a plausible path of robust, AI-led growth sits in the middle, flanked by a productivity miracle on one side and a risk-laden downside on the other,” he said.

Upcoming Economic Data

Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on this week.

• On Monday, January’s S&P flash U.S. manufacturing PMI will be out by 9:45 a.m., and ISM manufacturing will be released by 10:00 a.m. ETA. Auto sales data will also be announced.
• On Tuesday, December’s jobs opening data and January’s ISM services data will be released by 10:00 a.m., and January’s S&P final U.S. services PMI data will be out by 9:45 a.m. ET.
• On Wednesday, Fed Governor Lisa Cook will speak at 6:30 p.m., whereas January’s ADP Employment data will be released by 8:15 a.m. ET.
• On Thursday, initial jobless claims data for the week ending Jan. 31 will be out by 8:30 a.m., and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will speak at 10:50 a.m. ET.
• On Friday, January’s U.S. employment report, unemployment rate, and hourly wages data will be out by 8:30 a.m. ET.
• February’s preliminary consumer sentiment data will be released at 10:00 a.m., and consumer credit data will be out by 3:00 p.m. Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Commodities, Gold, Crypto And Global Equity Markets

Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 4.86% to hover around $62.04 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar fell 3.25% to hover around $4,707.15 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $5,595.46 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.13% higher at the 97.1200 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin was trading 6.28% lower at $82,225.86 per coin.

Asian markets closed lower on Monday, except India’s Nifty 50 index. Hong Kong's Hang Seng, China’s CSI 300, Australia's ASX 200, Japan's Nikkei 225, and South Korea's Kospi indices fell. European markets were mostly mixed in early trade.

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