Wednesday was a good session that could have been great, but beggars cannot be choosers. The NASDAQ Composite led major indices higher, and investors ventured out of the comfort of low volatility.

The market lost some oomph after the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes, which were described as “hawkish” by the media but clearly spoke of different camps willing to hold rates steady, cut rates, and possibly upwardly adjust the range.

As for the good news being a reason to sell, it's utter nonsense. Year-over-year industrial production gains were the best since April 2022, but we have a long way to go. The Fed would be more feckless than they are to want to snuff out early signs of a manufacturing turnaround.

Equal Weight Pumping

This is the second-best start for equal-weight over cap-weight in history. It continued yesterday with non-mega cap names among the top advancers, including at least three fighting back against recent artificial intelligence (AI) destruction.

Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

It's been a tough year in markets and the workplace, as AI hype is beginning to justify everyone’s worst-case assumptions. AI will have a net positive impact, but the road to tranquility will be rocky and painful.

The meme of 2026

 

Chart of the year.

Today’s Session

Lots of compelling economic data this morning, but I’m mostly focused on the reaction to Walmart’s (WMT) results. The shares were under pressure this week, and immediately after posting results, in part because of their high PE ratio.

E-commerce is the key, but overall, the shares have reversed, and the narrative is shifting to a healthy consumer. There are more inputs we are combing through.

Comments

It is not surprising that the members of the Fed would fight a rate decrease anymore than to expect the MSM to promote the dynamic change in the economy Tom Sanders on 2/19/2026 1:29:27 PM

That has to be one of the best cartoons yet describing the overreaction to AI! We're re-living the Deep Seek scare which looks like a buying opportunity for the right stocks that are way too depressed. Mike Mayone on 2/19/2026 1:34:04 PM

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