Market Podcast for 2026-02-18 (CST)

Transcript

Mark: Welcome to today's market update, based on the latest available data from February 17, 2026. I'm Mark, and joining me is Susan.

Susan: Hi everyone! Let's dive right into the major indices. Yesterday, it looks like there wasn't much movement with the indices. The S&P 500 closed at 6,843.22, the Dow Jones held steady at 49,533.19, and the Nasdaq wrapped up at 22,578.38. All unchanged from the previous session.

Mark: That's right, Susan. Despite the lack of movement in the indices, we did see some interesting shifts in individual stocks. Let's start with NVIDIA, or NVDA, which had a pretty good day, opening at $181.75 and closing at $184.97. That's a gain of $3.22.

Susan: Indeed, Mark. On the other hand, Tesla, ticker TSLA, saw a bit of a decline. It opened at $412.36 and closed slightly lower at $410.63, down by $1.73.

Mark: Amazon, symbol AMZN, showed some positive movement, too—opening at $198.13 and closing at $201.15, up by $3.02.

Susan: Meanwhile, Microsoft, MSFT, wasn't as fortunate. It opened at $399.22 and ended the day at $396.86, declining by $2.36.

Mark: Netflix had a quiet day, with a minimal gain, opening at $76.92 and closing at $77.00, up by just $0.08. And Google, with the ticker GOOG, gained $2.18, opening at $300.64 and closing at $302.82.

Susan: Let's not forget Meta, symbol META, which saw a slight decline of $0.21, opening at $639.50 and closing at $639.29.

Mark: Now, Susan, let's dive deeper into one of these stocks. How about we talk about Amazon, AMZN?

Susan: Great choice, Mark. Amazon had a solid performance yesterday, gaining $3.02. This move could reflect confidence in their ongoing investments in AI and cloud services, both of which have been key growth areas for the company.

Mark: Absolutely, Susan. With the growing demand in these sectors, Amazon seems well-positioned to capitalize on future technological advancements. It will be interesting to see how these investments impact their revenue streams in the coming quarters.

Susan: Definitely something to keep an eye on, Mark. Now, before we wrap up, let's lighten the mood with a market-related anecdote.

Mark: Sure, Susan. Did you know that during the dot-com bubble, some investors were so eager to jump onto the tech bandwagon that they mistakenly bought shares in companies with similar-sounding names to tech giants? There was even a company called "Pets.com" that became infamous for its rise and fall.

Susan: Oh, I remember that story! It's a great reminder to always do your research before investing. Well, that's it for today's market update. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you next time.

Mark: Thanks, Susan. And thank you, listeners, for tuning in. Have a great day!