Good morning.
The Fast Five → Amazon overtakes Walmart to lead the world in sales, Wall Street braces for SCOTUS tariff decision, Nvidia to invest up to $30B in OpenAI, Tesla unveils cheaper Cybertruck model in US, and AI rivals refuse to hold hands at AI Summit (check it out)…
📌 Where to Invest $500 Today »
(from Brownstone Research)
Calendar: Full Calendar »
Today:
Advance GDP, 8:30A
Flash Manufacturing PMI, 9:45A
Flash Services PMI, 9:45A
New Home Sales, 10:00A
Monday:
None watched
Your 5-minute briefing for Friday, Feb 20:
BEFORE THE OPEN
As of market close 2/19/2026.
Pre-Market:
US Investor % Bullish Sentiment:
↓ 34.54% for Week of FEB 19 2026
Previous week: 38.52%
Market Wrap:
Futures flat Dow +7, S&P +0.09%, Nasdaq +0.1%
Friday brings Q4 GDP est 2.5% and PCE est 2.8% YoY, core 3%
Supreme Court may rule on Trump tariffs under IEEPA
Thursday slipped S&P -0.3%, Nasdaq -0.3%, Dow -267
Iran tensions lifted oil prices
Week tracking S&P +0.4%, Nasdaq +0.6%, Dow -0.2%
EARNINGS
None watched today. See full earnings calendar »
CNBC: “This is the Big Market Event of 2026”
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HEADLINES
Amazon has surpassed Walmart as the world’s largest company, measured by sales, breaking Walmart’s 13-year streak at the top of the list.
OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei had an awkward moment on Thursday as they chose not to hold hands during a group photo of political and tech leaders.
Wall Street ends down as Nvidia slides and private equity stocks sink (more)
Stock investors brace for possible US strike in Iran (more)
Wall Street braces for Supreme Court tariff decision (more)
US notches one of its biggest annual trade gaps since 1960 (more)
Corporate America’s Trump bet at risk as Democrats threaten probes (more)
Wall Street’s 120-hour work weeks go on trial (more)
Dollar set for best week in four months on hawkish Fed, geopolitics (more)
Oil prices rise as Trump puts time limit on Iran stand-off (more)
Nvidia is in talks to invest up to $30 billion in OpenAI (more)
Tesla unveils cheaper Cybertruck model in US (more)
Meta cuts stock awards by 5% for most employees to fund AI goals (more)
Citi bolsters private bank leadership in North America push (more)
Private-credit warning signs flash after Blue Owl unloads $1.4B in assets (more)
BofA commits $25 billion to private credit deals (more)
Sony shuts down video-game studio Bluepoint (more)
DEALFLOW
M+A | Investments
SUSE acquires Losant
Avenue Z acquires Varfaj
Ubyx receives investment from AB Xelerate
ProSomnus receives $38M in strategic investment
VC
Hims & Hers Health to acquire Australia's Eucalyptus for up to $1.15B
Visa to buy payment firms Prisma, Newpay to deepen Argentina footprint
xAI, a developer of frontier artificial intelligence, raised $3B in Series E funding
Jump, AI solutions for financial advisors and other financial services, raised $80M in Series B funding
Efficient Computer, energy-efficient general-purpose processors, raised $60M in Series A funding
Ownwell, a property tax monitoring and appeal services provider, raised $50M in Series B funding
Ascent, a provider of financial products and student support services, raised $45M in Series C funding
Jump, AI solutions for financial advisors and other financial services providers, raised $80M in Series
Onshore, an AI-powered tax platform raised $31M in Series B funding
Kana, a company deploying agents for marketers and media companies, raised $15M in Seed funding
NuCube Energy, provider of a high-temperature modular microreactor, raised $13M in funding
Odynn, an AI-powered platform enabling banks and fintechs to launch travel and loyalty programs, raised $9.5M in Seed funding
Monark, a fintech company connecting brokerage firms and wealth platforms, raised $8.1M in strategic funding
portIQ, a startup developing smart basketball tech and coaching analytics, secured $6.2M in Series A funding
Adronite, AI-powered, codebase intelligence technology, raised $5M in Series A funding
Qumis, an attorney-trained AI platform for commercial insurance coverage intelligence, raised $4.3M in Seed funding
PolyGone Systems, a microplastic monitoring and removal company, raised a $4M in Seed funding
Ten63 Therapeutic, an advanced AI drug-discovery company, raised an undisclosed amount in strategic funding
CRYPTO
BULLISH BITES
🚨 The Biggest IPO ever: Claim your stake today » *
💵 Why risk-loving options traders are flocking to prediction markets.
⭐️ ‘Woke’ AI feud escalates between Pentagon and Anthropic.
☕️ Michael Heizer measures his art in miles and tons.
🏅 Play may be key to better problem-solving.
DAILY SHARES
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