U.S. stocks rose on Monday, Feb. 9, with the S&P 500 up about 0.5%, the ‘ow -ones Industrial Average slightly higher and the Nasdaq composite up around 0.9%.
Alphabet Inc. issued a 100 year sterling bond, which is the longest borrowing maturity and offers a relatively high yield to investors.
The company chose to borrow in British pounds instead of U.S. dollars as the total financing cost is cheaper and more stable.
Locking in funding for 100 years also shows that large tech companies are starting to behave more like infrastructure businesses, especially as they invest heavily in long-term artificial intelligence and data center projects.
Stocks were mixed Tuesday, Feb. 10, with the S&P 500 down about 0.3%, the Nasdaq down 0.6% and the Dow slightly higher at another record close.
China’s consumer inflation in January rose less than expected, showing that deflationary pressure is still present.
As consumer demand remained weak after the property slowdown, factories had too much supply and food and commodity prices were soft.
Prices that barely rise signal the economy is still fragile and may require more government stimulus, which is usually negative for the Chinese yuan and global growth expectations.
The S&P 500 finished the day with a 0.1 decrease, the Dow fell 0.1% and the Nasdaq declined 0.2 after a strong jobs report pushed Treasury yields higher on Wednesday, Feb. 11.
The U.S. added 130,000 jobs in January, which is better than expected, since total hiring in 2025 was weak with 181,000 jobs.
The same day, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. approved about $44.6 billion in new capital spending to expand semiconductor capacity, showing that AI demand remains powerful and that the global tech investment cycle is continuing.
Markets sold off sharply on Thursday, Feb.12 with the S&P 500 falling about 1.6%, the Dow dropping around 1.3% and the Nasdaq declining roughly 2.0% amid AI-related tech weakness.
The U.S. signed a trade agreement with Taiwan, lowering certain tariffs while Taiwan agreed to increase purchases of American goods.
This strengthened the U.S. and Taiwan’s technology relationship and helped secure semiconductor supply chains. At the same time, AI company Anthropic raised $30 billion at a $350 billion valuation in the latest funding round.
On Friday, Feb. 13, the S&P 500 rose around 0.05%, the Dow gained 0.10% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.22% as cooler inflation steadied sentiment, but tech remained under pressure.
U.S. consumer inflation rose 2.4% year-over-year in January and core inflation was 2.5%. Inflation cooled because energy, food and housing prices are slowing.
Lower inflation supports the idea that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates this year, but stock markets did not rise much, suggesting investors remain uncertain about the timing of policy easing.
