Rises on Wall Street; First Solar falls by 12%, Circle jumps by 22%

17:29

stock Auditi Tech (Il McKeage) The Israeli stock drops by tens of percent in trading on Wall Street (Wednesday) to an all-time low. This is after the technology company for the world of beauty published good reports for the fourth quarter of 2025 and for the entire year, but provided a low forecast for the first quarter – against the background of a challenge it is encountering with its advertising partner, which led to an increase in customer acquisition costs.

Auditi Tech was first issued on Nasdaq in the summer of 2023 at a value of approximately $2 billion, and at its peak in June 2025 it was traded at a value of over $4.3 billion. The stock traded in a negative trend even before the reports were published and the company’s value before the daily drop was approximately $1.67 billion. With the opening of trading, the stock falls to a price that reflects its value of under a billion dollars – almost 80% below last year’s record.

The company expects a substantial improvement in the second half of 2026, but at the moment they do not publish an annual forecast, and expect to do so in the coming months, when the company will have more foresight. In the meantime, Auditi Tech is satisfied with the forecast for the first quarter of this year – in which a 30% decrease in revenues is expected compared to the corresponding quarter in 2025 – only about 188 million dollars.

17:05

The gains on Wall Street are strengthening, as investors try to continue the positive momentum from the previous day, supported by technology stocks. Nasdaq rises by 1.1%, S&P 500 by 0.2%, Dow Jones also rises by 0.6%.

The sharp drop of First Solar at 12% marks the transition of the green energy sector from a “honeymoon” of subsidies to a harsh political and economic reality. Although the company presented in the fourth quarter impressive revenues of 1.68 billion dollars (above forecasts), investors were alarmed by the forecast for 2026 which stands at 4.9-5.2 billion dollars, significantly lower than the 5.6 billion expected by the market. That miss stems from a combination of delays in getting permits under the current administration and a strategic decision to reduce production at factories in Southeast Asia to defend against raging trade wars, which is weighing on the profit margins of the largest U.S. panel maker.

The timing of the reports collided head-on with the legal drama at the US Supreme Court. Just four days earlier, on February 20, the court ruled in Learning Resources v. Trump that the president exceeded his authority in imposing the sweeping IEEPA tariffs, a move that gave First Solar’s stock a temporary 7% jump. However, investors’ hopes for tariff relief were quickly dashed when Trump immediately responded by imposing new “emergency tariffs” of 15% under Section 122 (Trade Act), which forced the company to estimate a $130 million hit to the profit line in 2026. This situation leaves First Solar in a “perfect storm”: on the one hand, peak demand from AI data centers, and on the other, regulatory uncertainty that makes long-term planning an almost impossible task.

The battle between the White House and the Supreme Court seems to be turning the solar energy market into a roller coaster.

16:30

Gains on Wall Street now, as investors try to continue the positive momentum from the previous day, supported by prominent technology stocks, led by Nvidia and Oracle.

Nasdaq rises by 0.4%, S&P 500 by 0.3% and so does the Dow Jones index.

Cryptocurrency prices are also rising – Bitcoin is now trading up 5% to $66,000.

Nvidia rises slightly in early trading ahead of the publication of the reports after the close, an event seen as a critical test for the entire market, against a background of tense valuations and growing skepticism about the scope of the cloud giants’ AI investments. Salesforce and Snowflake are also expected to publish results, which increases vigilance in the software sector.

At the same time, Oracle is up more than 2% after receiving a recommendation increase, which helped the rally in the sector to continue. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF on software stocks continues to strengthen, alongside increases in Planetir and Microsoft, although Workday falls by about 9% following a disappointing revenue forecast.

In the background, the geopolitical tensions add a layer of uncertainty: President Trump recently threatened to raise global tariffs to 15%, while in practice a 10% tariff was imposed on global imports. In his State of the Nation address, Trump returned and presented an optimistic picture of the economy, alongside new policy proposals. The combination of crucial technology reports, sensitivity to AI investments and political tensions will likely continue to dictate market direction in the coming days.

16:05

stock Circle Jumping 14% in early trading, following strong financial reports for the fourth quarter of 2025 that beat analysts’ forecasts. The company, which was issued on the New York Stock Exchange last June, reported that the circulation of its stable currency, the USDC, grew by 72% compared to last year and reached 75.3 billion dollars. This growth boosted revenue from reserves (the investment of money that backs up the currency in government bonds) to $733 million, bringing total revenue for the quarter to $770 million – an impressive 77% increase compared to the corresponding quarter.

Circle’s strongest tailwind comes from the dramatic regulatory change in the US: The GENIUS Act, signed by President Trump in July 2025, created for the first time a clear federal framework for dollar-pegged stablecoins.

The law stated that currencies like USDC are not considered securities, which removed the threat of SEC oversight and paved the way for widespread adoption by financial institutions. Thanks to this certainty, USDC’s transaction volume on the network reached a peak of $11.9 trillion in the last quarter, as the company takes advantage of the high interest rates in the market to generate significant profits from the safe assets that back the currency.

This is a moment of “maturity” for the crypto market, where regulation turns from an obstacle to preventing growth.

14:35

The increases in Europe continue. The DAX index rises by about 0.3%, the FTSE advances by about 1% and the CAC adds to its value by about 0.4%.

stock Auditi Tech Falling over 30% in pre-trade on Wall Street, to an all-time low. This, after the technology company for the world of beauty published good reports for the fourth quarter of 2025 and for the entire year, but provided a low forecast for the first quarter – against the background of a challenge it is encountering with its advertising partner, which led to an increase in customer acquisition costs.

The company estimates that the issue has been resolved and expects a substantial improvement in the second half of 2026, but at the moment they are not publishing an annual forecast, and expect to do so in the coming months, when the company will have more foresight. In the meantime, Auditi Tech is satisfied with the forecast for the first quarter of the year – in which a 30% decrease in revenues is expected compared to the corresponding quarter in 2025. In the corresponding quarter, the revenues were about 268 million dollars, so it is about expected revenues of only about 188 million dollars.

12:50

After the recovery registered on Wall Street yesterday, futures are now registering gains of up to 0.2%.

Diageo the world’s largest spirits maker, is falling about 7% on the London Stock Exchange after it lowered its sales and earnings forecast for 2026. According to CNBC, the company reported that weaker demand from North America and China hurt its earnings in the first fiscal quarter of the year.

11:35

The positive trend in Europe continues. The DAX index advances by about 0.1%, the CAC climbs by about 0.2% and the FTSE jumps by about 0.9% to a new high. The increases come after the amount of the tariffs that came into effect following Trump’s announcement was finally set at 10% and not at 15% as the president initially stated.

The increases in London are supported, among other things, by the jump in the shares of the investment bank HSBC which followed positive reports he published.

10:20

Following the recovery recorded on Wall Street and in Asia, European stock markets also open the day with price increases. The Dax index rises by about 0.2%, the FTSE advances by about 0.9% and the KAC adds to its value by about 0.4%.

9:50

Asia

Following yesterday’s recovery on Wall Street, Asian stock markets traded higher this morning. The Nikkei and Kospi jumped 2.2% and 1.9% to new highs, while the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange advanced 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively.

Bloomberg reported a little while ago that the stock exchange in Seoul (South Korea) overtook the Paris Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization, thus becoming the ninth largest stock exchange in the world. The market value of the Seoul Stock Exchange rose to $3.76 trillion, after adding $2.23 trillion since the beginning of 2025. The market value of the Paris Stock Exchange stands at $3.69 trillion.

Wall Street

Wall Street recovered yesterday from the sharp declines recorded on Monday – the Nasdaq index rose by about 1%, the S&P 500 climbed by about 0.8% and the Dow Jones advanced by about 0.7%.

Software stocks rebounded after Anthropic’s Enterprise Agents event provided investors with a reassuring message: AI isn’t going to “replace” the software industry, at least not anytime soon.

The startup introduced updates to Claude Cowork, which allow organizations to integrate the tool into existing systems such as Slack owned by Salesforce and platforms of Intuit , Docosain , Liglazum.com FactSet and Google’s Gmail. In addition, plugins tailored to industries such as financial analysis, engineering and human resources were introduced – a move that emphasizes integration, not replacement.

The markets reacted accordingly: shares Salesforce , Docosain And LegalZoom soared. Thompson-Reuters jumped by 11% andPacttest Research Systems by about 6%. Cyber ​​shares also benefited from the calm: Crowd strike andOcta Rose, as well Zyskyler , Sentinel One and- Cloud Flair .

Wedbush estimated that the fear that AI will replace entire software systems is “exaggerated”, and emphasized that models are currently unable to displace deep work processes embedded in organizational infrastructures. According to them, AI tools are only as effective as the data to which they are connected – therefore, they are expected to integrate into the existing ecosystem, not tear it apart.

Today, after the close of trading, investors’ eyes will be onNvidia which will report its results for the fourth quarter of 2025 and for the entire year. The consensus among analysts is that Nvidia will beat analysts’ forecasts on the top and bottom lines. Reuters reported that according to LSEG data, analysts expect the company to report that profit in the quarter that ended in January jumped by more than 62% – a slight slowdown compared to growth of 65.3% in the previous quarter.

Revenues will likely jump by over 68% to $66.16 billion. Analysts expect from Nvidia a growth forecast of 64.4% in the first quarter revenues, which will amount to 72.46 billion dollars. The company has exceeded sales forecasts in the last 13 quarters, although the rate of deviation from forecasts has decreased.

Back to the past trading day, too IBM whose stock fell sharply on Monday following the introduction of a programming language automation tool to run on its computers, rebounded yesterday — evidence that investors are beginning to recognize that AI is more of a complementary layer than an immediate existential threat.

stock dark It rose more than 2% and was the second strongest performer yesterday (after Tesla), after the company announced that it would deepen its manufacturing activities in the United States. The iPhone manufacturer plans to transfer the production of Mac mini computers from Asia to a new facility in Houston, and at the same site also to expand the production of advanced artificial intelligence servers – as part of an overall commitment of about 600 billion dollars for manufacturing investments in the USA, given last year against the background of pressure from the Trump administration.

In addition, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Apple is using its purchasing power to strengthen the local chip industry with orders from a new factory of TSMC North of Phoenix, Arizona. The moves reflect a broad trend of “bringing production home” (reshoring), which combines geopolitical considerations, supply chains and growing demand for AI infrastructure.

Yesterday, the technology giant Meta announced that it had signed a wide-ranging strategic agreement with the chip manufacturer AMD in which you will purchase up to six gigawatts of artificial intelligence-based computing power over the next five years.

The deal is valued at more than $100 billion, making it one of the largest infrastructure deals signed so far in the field of artificial intelligence. The agreement even more strongly reflects the huge investment volume that Meta is pouring into establishing server farms and building advanced computing infrastructures, as part of the effort to deepen its artificial intelligence capabilities in all of the company’s products, from Facebook and Instagram to advertising systems and creative tools based on advanced models.

The commodity and currency markets

Following the recovery registered on Wall Street, the shekel strengthened again yesterday against the dollar, and for now the dollar-shekel exchange rate stands at NIS 3.09.

Yesterday, the investment bank Goldman Sachs estimated that the shekel is overpriced by 13% compared to the dollar and bet against the Israeli currency. In a document published by the investment bank, it was stated that “the underperformance of technology stocks and the increase in geopolitical risks in the Middle East were two of the main drivers of the market in recent times. The Israeli shekel is particularly sensitive to these two factors, which in our view makes short positions on the shekel an attractive hedging tool in the foreign exchange market.”

The prices of precious metals continue to climb, against the background of the growing geopolitical uncertainty surrounding the new Trump tariffs and the tensions between the US and Iran. Gold rises by about 1% and trades at a price of about $5,200 per ounce, while silver rises by over 3% and trades at a price of about $90 per ounce.

The price of Bitcoin is recovering a little this morning from the declines of the last few days. At the moment, it goes up by about 3% and its price is around 65 thousand dollars.