Dow, S&#038;P 500, Nasdaq futures rise after AI, tariffs ignite Wall Street&#8217;s latest sell-off

Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures rise after AI, tariffs ignite Wall Street’s latest sell-off

US stock futures ticked higher late Monday, attempting to stabilize after equities kicked off the final stretch of February with steep losses led by fears of AI disruption and tariff whiplash.

Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) rose about 0.2%. Contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) climbed 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) also added roughly 0.5%.

The cautious rebound followed a sharp sell-off during regular trading hours, as investors grappled with renewed concerns that rapid advances in artificial intelligence could disrupt broad swaths of corporate America. Fresh geopolitical unease also weighed on sentiment, including President Trump’s plan to lift global tariffs to 15% and escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led the slump, pressured in part by a roughly 13% plunge in IBM (IBM) shares. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) and S&P 500 (^GSPC) both fell over 1%, pushing the benchmark back into negative territory for the year.

Looking ahead, investors are laser-focused on developments in artificial intelligence. AI startup Anthropic is set to host a key event Tuesday featuring product updates and demonstrations of new features. Anthropic’s release of industry-targeted AI tools has led trends of sell-offs in those industries, with Tuesday holding the potential for further pressure in cybersecurity and software firms.

On the economic front, traders will parse the latest consumer confidence data Tuesday, along with earnings from Home Depot (HD). Attention Wednesday will turn to results from Nvidia (NVDA), Salesforce (CRM), and Snowflake (SNOW).

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Anthropic opens doors for staff shares to be sold to outside investment

Bloomberg reports:

Anthropic is offering some current and former employees the ability to sell shares in the company at a valuation of about $350 billion, according to people familiar with the matter — allowing them to cash in at the level of a recent $30 billion fundraising.

The company has lined up $5 billion to $6 billion for the share sale, but the final amount will depend on how many eligible Anthropic employees opt to sell, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The details have not been finalized and could still change.

Anthropic’s latest funding round, completed earlier this month, valued the company at $380 billion post-money, including the cash investors put in. Anthropic declined to comment on the new share sale.

Read more here.