Market Podcast for 2026-02-18 (CST)
February 18, 2026 at 02:00 PM CSTMark
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!