Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell on February 18, 2026 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images
Stocks fell on Thursday, leaving the S&P 500 near the flatline for the year, as investors shifted away from financials and monitored simmering tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 267.50 points, or 0.54%, settling at 49,395.16. The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.28% and ended at 6,861.89. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.31% and closed at 22,682.73.
With Thursday’s move, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% for the year, while the 30-stock Dow was higher by more than 2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, however, is down more than 2% in 2026.
Investors moved out of private credit stocks after private market and alternative assets manager Blue Owl Capital announced it’s going to tighten investor liquidity following its sale of $1.4 billion in loan assets, spurring worries among investors about losses in the murky private loans area. That stock declined about 6%, while others such as Blackstone and Apollo Global Management were each down more than 5%.
Alongside asset managers, software was another area under pressure. Salesforce shares were lower by more than 1%, while Intuit shares fell roughly 2%. Shares of Cadence Design Systems declined nearly 3%.
The group has become a sore spot for the market lately as investors fear that artificial intelligence will disrupt the industry. In fact, Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch told CNBC Wednesday that more than 50% of enterprises’ software could be replaced by the technology.
Those on Wall Street remained on edge as crude prices extended gains amid a standoff between Iran and the U.S. over the former’s nuclear program. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he’s going to determine whether to launch military strikes against the Middle Eastern country in the next 10 days.
“So now we may have to take it a step further, or we may not,” the president said during the inaugural Board of Peace meeting. “Maybe we’re going to make a deal. You’re going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days.”
Adding to the downbeat sentiment Thursday, Walmart shares were down more than 1% after the company’s full-year earnings outlook fell short of expectations. This overshadowed better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter.
The recent market moves are a “confirmation of a change in leadership,” said Antonio Rodrigues, chief investment officer at Procyon. “We need to see earnings momentum starting to come out of the lower 490 names,” he added.
In particular, Rodrigues is eyeing industrials as well as consumer cyclicals, two areas that he believes could “see some efficiencies as it relates to some of the AI spending.”
“Everything that’s related to the grid still has legs,” he said. “There are still lots of things being built. Those are multiyear, even perhaps multidecade, themes.”