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Snowflake surges on upbeat 2026 product revenue forecast

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Salesforce ( CRM ) falls on downbeat annual revenue forecast

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US weekly jobless claims rise more than expected

(Updates with market close)

By Noel Randewich and Johann M Cherian

Feb 26 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended sharply

lower on Thursday, weighed down by a slump in chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA )

after its quarterly report failed to rekindle Wall Street's AI

rally, while investors focused on data pointing to a cooling

U.S. economy.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) dropped after the Silicon Valley company

gave a weaker-than-expected quarterly forecast for gross margin

that overshadowed an upbeat revenue outlook.

Chipmakers Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD )

also fell, pulling the Philadelphia chip index

down sharply.

The launch of low-cost artificial intelligence models from

China's DeepSeek in January has cooled Wall Street's AI rally,

while an analyst report this week suggesting Microsoft was

scrapping some data center leases also raised concerns of AI

overcapacity.

"Nvidia's ( NVDA ) earnings were good, but not like the blockbuster

earnings that they've been delivering for a while," said Scott

Welch, chief investment officer at Certuity.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 93.76

points, or 1.57%, to end at 5,862.79 points, while the Nasdaq

Composite lost 531.00 points, or 2.78%, to 18,544.26.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 192.98 points, or

0.44%, to 43,240.14.

While tech stocks dipped, other parts of the market saw

gains. The S&P energy index rose, tracking a jump in

crude prices after U.S. President Donald Trump canceled oil

major Chevron's license to operate in Venezuela.

Also weighing on investor sentiment, data showed jobless

claims jumped more than expected in the previous week, while

another report reiterated that economic growth slowed in the

fourth quarter.

Thursday's data follows reports over the past week that

suggested the economy was stalling, fears of which have also put

all three major U.S. indexes on track for monthly declines.

"We're now seeing inflation fears give way to growth fears,

and that, in turn, is causing stocks to go, at best, sideways,

and potentially even down," said Michael Green, chief strategist

at Simplify Asset Management in Philadelphia.

On the trade front, Trump floated a 25% reciprocal tariff on

European cars and other goods. He also said tariffs on Mexico

and Canada will go into effect on Tuesday.

Investors are focused on monthly Personal Consumption

Expenditure data, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred

inflation gauge, due on Friday.

Traders expect the Fed to lower borrowing costs by at least

50 basis points by December, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Shares of Salesforce ( CRM ) dropped after the business

software seller forecast fiscal 2026 revenue below expectations.

Snowflake surged after the data analytics provider

forecast fiscal 2026 product revenue above estimates.

Viatris ( VTRS ) plummeted after the drugmaker forecast

downbeat annual results.

Warner Bros Discovery ( WBD ) jumped after saying it expects

streaming profits to double this year.