The Dow hit 50,000 🎉

Welcome back to the the Day Trading newsletter 📈 

What a week. Tech got hammered, crypto crashed 50% from its peak, and through it all, the Dow quietly notched a historic milestone.

The rotation from mega-cap tech into everything else is real, and Friday's snapback rally gave bulls some breathing room.

Let’s get into it 👇️ 

📆 Wednesday 2/11 — January Jobs Report (10am ET): Delayed from Friday due to the shutdown. Economists expect 70,000 jobs added versus 50,000 in December. Key read on whether the labor market is stabilizing as the Fed believes.

📆 Wednesday 2/11 — China CPI/PPI (9:30pm SGT): Watch for signs that deflationary pressures are easing. January PMI showed the first rise in business selling prices in 14 months.

📆 Wednesday 2/11 — Cisco & McDonald's Earnings: Cisco reports after close — a key read on AI infrastructure demand. McDonald's before open will signal how the lower-to-middle-income consumer is holding up.

📆 Thursday 2/12 — Coinbase & Airbnb Earnings: After the week's crypto volatility, Coinbase guidance will be closely watched. Airbnb offers a read on travel demand heading into spring.

📆 Friday 2/13 — January CPI Report (8:30am ET): Also delayed by the shutdown. Core inflation has been stuck around 3%, any surprise to the upside could push rate cut expectations further out.

📊 Bitcoin whipsawed this week, crashing to $60,000 Thursday (its lowest since October 2024) before rebounding to $70,700 by Friday's close. The 30% drawdown from October's highs triggered $2.56 billion in liquidations. Crypto stocks rode the recovery: Strategy (MSTR) surged 25%, Coinbase gained 13%, and Robinhood rose 14%. The bounce looks like short-covering for now. Watch $70K as the level that needs to hold (CNBC)

🥇 Gold settled at $4,975/oz Friday, holding near record levels as safe-haven demand persists amid equity volatility. The precious metal briefly touched $5,625 last week before pulling back. Central bank buying continues to provide a floor, and the negative correlation with stocks is back. When equities sold off midweek, gold caught a bid. With CPI data due Friday, any inflation surprise could push it back toward highs (Investopedia)

📉 Amazon shares fell 5.6% after projecting $200 billion in 2026 capex (well above the $147B analysts expected) bringing combined AI spending from Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta to an estimated $600 billion this year (Reuters)

🛞 The "Great Rotation" is accelerating: industrials, energy, and staples are crushing tech in 2026. Caterpillar and Vertiv (the data center cooling play) have become institutional favorites, while the S&P 500 tech sector is down over 6% YTD.
The irony is that AI capex is actually bullish for old-economy companies building the infrastructure. Watch CAT, VRT, and the XLI ETF for continuation (Seeking Alpha)

💻️ Nvidia soared 8% Friday (its best day since April) as CEO Jensen Huang said demand remains "through the roof." The bounce came after a five-day losing streak that had investors questioning the AI trade. While hyperscalers keep boosting capex (Amazon's $200B, Meta and Alphabet doubling spend), chipmakers are the clearest beneficiaries. Nvidia's rebound helped lift the entire tech sector Friday, though it wasn't enough to save the Nasdaq from another down week (Motley Fool)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 50,000 for the first time ever on Friday, and the timing couldn't be more symbolic.

While tech investors spent the week watching the Nasdaq bleed out (down 1.84%), the blue-chip index quietly rallied 2.5% to close at 50,115.67.

It's a tale of two markets: the AI anxiety that hammered software stocks and mega-cap tech created a rotation into the broader economy that lifted industrials, financials, and consumer staples to record highs.

The divergence is striking. Year-to-date, the Dow is now up about 4% while the Nasdaq has struggled to stay positive. Names like Caterpillar (+6% Friday), Coca-Cola (all-time highs), and Delta Air Lines (+7% Friday) are leading the charge. Wharton's Jeremy Siegel called the milestone a sign of "fundamental strength in this economy" and predicted the broadening out is "just the beginning."

For traders, this rotation trade has legs, but it comes with a warning. The tech selloff wasn't about fundamentals; it was about fear that AI would disrupt entire industries faster than expected.

Software stocks lost $830 billion in seven sessions. If that fear subsides, money could rotate right back into growth.

The trading setup: watch the Russell 2000 versus Nasdaq 100 spread. Small-caps (+7% YTD) are outperforming big tech, and if that continues, the "buy any Mag 7 dip" playbook may be over.

The market is finally getting selective about who wins and loses from AI.

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⚠️ Disclaimer: Not financial advice. Do your research before making any trades.