Stock Market News for Feb 25, 2026

U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday, boosted by positive labor market and economic reports, as Anthropic launched new artificial intelligence (AI) integrations aimed at enterprise customers. The Nasdaq Composite, the S&P 500, and the Dow all finished in positive territory.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.8%, or 370.44 points, to close at 49,174.50. Twenty-six components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory, while four ended in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.1%, or finished at 236.41 points, to close at 22,863.68. The S&P 500 gained 0.8%, to end at 6,890.07. Of the 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index, nine ended in positive territory, while two ended in the negative zone. The Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI), the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) rose 1.2%, 1.6% and 1.1%, respectively, while the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) fell 0.6%.

The fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), decreased by 7% to 19.55. A total of 18.39 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 20.62 billion. The S&P 500 posted 41 new 52-week highs and 18 new lows, and the Nasdaq Composite recorded 67 new highs and 264 new lows.

U.S. Private Jobs Rise in Early February

U.S. private employers increased employment by an average of 12,750 per week in the four weeks ending Feb. 7, based on ADP’s NER Pulse. This is the fourth consecutive week in which employment has risen. Employment increased by 11,500 in the previous week and by 7,250 two weeks earlier.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that wholesale inventories had increased 0.2% in December, in line with November data.

In economic data released on Tuesday, the Conference Board said consumer confidence rose to 91.2 in February from 89 in January. Analysts had forecast consumer confidence to jump to 88.4.

Anthropic Steps Up Enterprise AI Expansion

Anthropic released 10 enterprise AI integrations on Tuesday, expanding into areas such as customer support for banks and financial institutions, portfolio analysis, and HR and engineering operations. These integrations allow businesses to use the Claude AI. Among the companies that are partners with Anthropic are financial data and analytics firm LSEG, financial and business insights firm FactSet (FDS), workplace platform Slack, owned by Salesforce (CRM) and DocuSign (DOCU).

Following the announcement, shares of Salesforce, Inc. and DocuSign, Inc. rose 4.1% and 2.6%, respectively. Salesforce carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.