Why the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq Are Rising Today

The Motley Fool | February 24, 2026 at 07:55 PM UTC
Bullish 80% Confidence Unanimous Agreement
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Key Points

  • Monday's selloff saw IBM drop 13% after speculation that Anthropic's AI could modernize legacy COBOL code, threatening its consulting business, while broader AI disruption fears affected multiple tech stocks.
  • Trump raised global tariff rates to 15% after the Supreme Court struck down his emergency-powers tariffs on Friday, creating ongoing policy uncertainty that pressures growth stocks and high-risk investments.
  • Anthropic's Tuesday event reassured investors by positioning Claude as complementary to existing tools like DocuSign and Salesforce rather than competitive, triggering rebounds in these stocks and lifting major indexes.

AI Summary

Market Summary: Major Indices Rebound Following AI and Tariff Concerns

Market Performance (February 24, 2026):

Major U.S. indices posted gains on Tuesday, recovering from Monday's sharp sell-off. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 6,890.86, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9% to 49,226.20, and the Nasdaq Composite led gains with a 1.1% increase to 22,867.59.

Key Drivers:

*Monday's Sell-off:*

  • IBM plunged 13% after AI company Anthropic demonstrated AI capabilities to modernize COBOL code
  • Renewed tariff uncertainty following President Trump's increase of global tariff rates to 15% after the Supreme Court struck down emergency-powers tariffs
  • Speculation about AI disruption across various industries rattled investor confidence

*Tuesday's Recovery:*

Rally began around 10:30 a.m. ET following Anthropic's live event, where the company positioned its Claude AI as an "orchestration layer" that integrates with existing software rather than replacing it. This reassured investors about AI complementing rather than displacing current technologies.

Notable Stock Movements:

  • DocuSign: +3.42%
  • Salesforce: +4.04%
  • Amazon: +1.9%
  • Tesla: +2.3%
  • Nvidia: +0.7%
  • IBM: +2.95% (recovering from Monday's losses)

Market Outlook:

All three indices remain within 3% of their 2025 year-end levels and up 13%+ over 52 weeks. The long-term uptrend remains intact, though analysts expect continued volatility. Nvidia's earnings report Wednesday evening is anticipated to set market tone for coming months amid ongoing AI disruption concerns and tariff policy uncertainty.

Model Analysis Breakdown

Model Sentiment Confidence
GPT-5-mini Bullish 75%
Claude 4.5 Haiku Bullish 75%
Gemini 2.5 Flash Bullish 90%
Consensus Bullish 80%