New York, March 1, 2026, 13:29 ET — The session wrapped up with the market closed.
- Coca-Cola finished Friday at $81.56, up 1.32%, with shares touching $82.00 during the session.
- Brent jumped roughly 10% to $80 a barrel after weekend events in the Middle East, stirring up new worries about inflation.
- Traders are eyeing ISM manufacturing numbers Monday, with Friday’s U.S. jobs report also in focus.
The Coca-Cola Company (KO) finished Friday at $81.56, up 1.32%. Shares topped out at $82.00 during the session, with volume reaching roughly 28.5 million.
This shift is getting attention as traders sift through which names stand to lose ground from artificial intelligence, and which might harness it. “There continues to be this … back and forth” on winners and losers, said Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group. Investors lately have gravitated toward more defensive plays like consumer staples. Reuters
The weekend saw Brent crude surge roughly 10%, reaching near $80 a barrel in over-the-counter sessions after U.S. and Israeli strikes targeted Iran, according to oil traders. Analysts flagged the risk of prices spiking toward $100 if the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked. “The key factor here is the closing of the Strait of Hormuz,” said Ajay Parmar, director of energy and refining at ICIS. Reuters
Defensive tones dominated Friday, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.43% and the Dow off 1.05%, closing out February with the steepest monthly drops in roughly a year for both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Consumer staples, healthcare, and utilities managed to hold up better than the rest.
Inflation jitters resurfaced after the U.S. Producer Price Index came in hotter than anticipated, intensifying bets that the Federal Reserve won’t move rates in March. “Wider margins for producers could add some upside for consumer costs,” said Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide. Businesses are still facing higher input prices, according to the data. Reuters
Coca-Cola has climbed to the upper boundary of its 52-week range, trading between $65.35 and $82.00, Yahoo Finance data show.
A Form 4 dated Feb. 27 shows Coca-Cola’s President and CFO John Murphy exercised options for 99,437 shares on Feb. 25, then sold those shares at a weighted average of $80.4181. After the sale, Murphy’s direct holdings stood at 410,550 shares, according to the filing.
PepsiCo’s shares finished up 1.29%, closing at $169.74 on Friday, MarketWatch data showed. That trailed Coca-Cola’s advance for the day.
KO heads into Monday facing the chance that this weekend’s oil shock keeps fueling the “higher-for-longer” story on rates, and with it, fresh headwinds for stocks. Analysts flagged by Reuters see markets possibly downplaying the risk of drawn-out conflict and broader inflation spillover. Reuters
On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management is set to publish its manufacturing survey—look for that at 10:00 a.m. EST.
Coca-Cola is slated to appear at the Citi Global Consumer & Retail Conference, with its presentation scheduled for 8:00 a.m. ET on March 9.
Traders are zeroed in on Friday’s U.S. jobs data for February, set to hit at 8:30 a.m. EST March 6.
