New York, Feb 13, 2026, 10:10 ET — Regular session
- Nvidia shares fell in early trading as investors stayed cautious on megacap tech.
- A cooler U.S. inflation report steadied rate-cut hopes, but chip stocks diverged.
- Traders are watching Nvidia’s next results and any shifts in U.S. scrutiny of chip exports.
Nvidia shares fell 1.8% to $183.59 in morning trading on Friday, after ending Thursday at $186.94. The stock has ranged from $182.31 to $188.30 so far in the session.
The moves matter because Nvidia has become the market’s shorthand for AI hardware demand. With tech sentiment shaky, investors are trying to work out whether the next batch of guidance justifies the premium still embedded in the AI leaders.
That comes after the Nasdaq slid 2% on Thursday — its biggest daily drop in three weeks — as worries about tech margins and AI-driven disruption resurfaced. “Markets have had a healthy correction, they’ve skimmed some of the froth,” Arun Sai, a senior multi-asset strategist at Pictet Asset Management, said. (Reuters)
A softer U.S. inflation print offered some relief on Friday. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% in January versus forecasts for a 0.3% gain and was up 2.4% from a year earlier, the Labor Department said. Core CPI — which strips out food and energy — rose 0.3% and was up 2.5% year-on-year. (Reuters)
Wall Street’s main indexes opened little changed after the data, with the Nasdaq edging lower and the S&P 500 barely moved. Traders are balancing cooling inflation against the risk that the market’s tech reset still has room to run. (Reuters)
In semiconductors, Applied Materials jumped 11.5% after it forecast second-quarter revenue and profit above estimates, keeping the AI capex cycle in focus. CEO Gary Dickerson said the quarter was “fueled by the acceleration of industry investments in AI computing.” Industry group SEMI sees wafer-fab equipment sales rising about 9% in 2026, Reuters reported. (Reuters)
Other chip names were mixed: AMD rose 0.6% and Broadcom was little changed, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing slipped about 0.7%. Intel gained 0.6%.
Policy risk is still in the mix. In Washington this week, Representative Ro Khanna said he was open to sales of older Nvidia Hopper chips to China, but added: “We certainly shouldn’t be sending them Rubins. We shouldn’t be sending them Blackwells.” Hopper is Nvidia’s prior AI-chip line; Blackwell is its newer platform, with Rubin due later this year. (Reuters)
Nvidia sells graphics processors and related software that have become central to training and running AI models in data centers. The stock has tended to swing with expectations around big cloud firms’ data-center spending and the pace of new chip rollouts.
The setup cuts both ways. Any disappointment in guidance, or a fresh tightening of export licences, can hit expectations quickly, and big customers can shift order timing as they work through earlier deliveries.
The next catalyst is Nvidia’s fourth-quarter and fiscal-year results on Feb. 25, followed by a conference call at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET). CFO Colette Kress will publish written commentary shortly before the call, the company said. (Nvidia)
