The week was marked by a plethora of unfortunate drawdowns: gold, silver, Bitcoin (BTC), tech stocks (specifically chips), and more. The precious metals meltdown began last Friday and continued through Monday, though both gold and silver saw immense volatility through the rest of the week as well. Bitcoin's selloff was in focus for the first four days, with the cryptocurrency plummeting below 61,000 before a light gain on Friday.
Investors rotated out of tech for most of the week, putting pressure on the broader market, though the Dow managed a record high on Tuesday before pulling back. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both slipped into negative territory for 2026, while Wall Street's "fear gauge," the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) hit its highest level since November. At this point, all three major indexes are rebounding on Friday, with the Dow poised for a weekly win, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq head for weekly losses (the latter's fourth straight).
Flood of Corporate Earnings
Investors unpacked a flood of quarterly results. Notably, reports from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Qualcomm (QCOM), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Amazon.com (AMZN) each contributed to tech sector woes, though plenty of stocks made large moves to the upside after earnings as well. In fact, Dow members Merck (MRK), Amgen (AMGN), and Eli Lilly (LLY) all staged post-earnings pops.
Other earnings reports included fellow blue-chip giant Walt Disney (DIS), which fell despite an upbeat report, Novo Nordisk (NVO), which plummeted this week amid stiff competition, and Tapestry (TPR), which surged to record highs. Meanwhile, Reddit (RDDT) suffered a massive losing streak ahead of its report, which gave the shares a much-needed boost on Friday. Chipotle (CMG), Roblox (RBLX), and Bloom Energy (BE) all reported this week as well.
Looking Ahead to Next Week
Next week will bring plenty more earnings reports as well as a handful of economic data. In the meantime, Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White measured the January barometer against investor sentiment as a potential S&P 500 indicator. White also compiled a list of the 25 best stocks to own in February, and the 25 worst, while Senior V.P. of Research Todd Salamone pointed to key SPX trendlines to watch.
