U.S. Stocks Fall as Tech Sells Off; Gold Gains | The Close 2/3/2026
Speakers
Rebecca Patterson
— Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Chief Investment Strategist at Bridgewater Associates
Alicia Reese
— SVP of Equity Research, Wedbush
Barbara Humpton
— CEO, USA Rare Earth
Mona Mahajan
— Head of Investment Strategy, Edward Jones
Abby Roach
— Senior Portfolio Analyst, Allspring Global Investments
Kunjan Sobhani
— Semiconductor Analyst
Sarah Kunst
— Cleo Capital Founder
Rich Weiss
— Senior Vice President & Chief Investment Officer of Multi-Asset Strategies, American Century Investments
Pierre-Antonie de Selancy
— Co-Founder and Managing Partner, 17Capital
Gene Sperling
— Fmr. National Economic Council Dir.
Ed Ludlow
— Co-Host, Bloomberg Technology
Ray Wang
— Analyst at SemiAnalysis. Fundamental research on AI infra/semis
Summary
U.S. stocks fell as technology and AI-linked shares sold off, while gold rebounded and bitcoin dropped below $80,000. Guests debated AI spending and valuation, Fed policy and data credibility, and rotated toward mid-caps, international equities, precious metals and real estate. AMD earnings and Netflix's Warner Bros. Discovery deal were key single-name topics.
- Tech and AI stocks sold off; investors scrutinized AI capex and monetization.
- Gold rebounded while bitcoin fell below $80,000 and gave back post-election gains.
- AMD beat but shares fell as investors focused on the second-half AI GPU ramp.
- Netflix outperformance thesis hinged on standalone streaming, not the WBD deal.
- USA Rare Earth highlighted government funding and an ex-China magnet supply chain.
- Strategy guests favored mid-caps, international/EM diversification, real estate and a weaker dollar.
- Corporate credit spreads were described as tight; securitized MBS/ABS were favored.
- Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh and delayed jobs data added macro uncertainty.
Ideas
Rebecca Patterson
Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Chief Investment Strategist at Bridgewater Associates
7:31
Small-cap rallies fade; stay cautious
She is cautious on assuming the market broadening continues because small-cap rallies have repeatedly failed. Broadening would be healthy, but small-cap momentum has died before.
Rebecca Patterson
Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Chief Investment Strategist at Bridgewater Associates
8:45
Stay long gold as dollar hedge
Gold remains a diversification story supported by central bank buying and demand for a dollar hedge. She sees underlying fundamental support beyond speculative flows and would personally want to stay in the gold trade.
Rebecca Patterson
Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Chief Investment Strategist at Bridgewater Associates
9:02
Silver is high-beta cyclical precious metals play
Silver is more cyclical than gold and tied to strategic supply chains. Its liquidity is roughly one-seventh that of gold, so it should outperform on both the upside and the downside.
Rebecca Patterson
Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Chief Investment Strategist at Bridgewater Associates
9:31
Bitcoin lacks fundamental support, speculative
Unlike gold, bitcoin lacks fundamental support and she would argue it is driven by speculators. That makes her less comfortable staying with bitcoin than with gold.
Outperform Netflix on standalone streaming strength
Alicia Reese has an outperform rating on Netflix based on the standalone streaming opportunity. Her price target and rating do not include the Warner Bros. Discovery deal because she sees too many regulatory hurdles, but standalone Netflix remains attractive.
Funding accelerates rare earth magnet pipeline
USA Rare Earth signed a letter of intent for $1.6B in Department of Commerce and CHIPS Office funding, with private investors bringing total potential funding above $3B. Round Top is the richest heavy rare earth deposit in North America, and the company plans metal making in 2027, magnet making now, and the mine online by 2028 to supply ex-China defense and semiconductor magnets.
Above-trend economy supports U.S. equities
Mona Mahajan says it is hard to be overly bearish on U.S. equities: the economy is growing above trend, 2026 earnings growth is still double-digit, the Fed is likely to cut one to two times, and there is no recession or rapid rate-hike scenario on the horizon.
Rotate to international and emerging markets
Investors are looking to diversify away from technology, and international and emerging-market equities are holding up better in that rotation.
Prefer mid-caps over leveraged small caps
Mid-caps are a nice compromise: small caps are more levered with more debt and many zombie companies, while mid-caps have better earnings profiles and can still participate when the economy improves, potentially delivering better overall performance.
Prefer mid-caps over leveraged small caps
Mid-caps are a nice compromise: small caps are more levered with more debt and many zombie companies, while mid-caps have better earnings profiles and can still participate when the economy improves, potentially delivering better overall performance.
Watch Chipotle as comps stall
Chipotle's 2026 guidance for zero same-store sales growth is very disappointing and reflects macro pressure, especially on the 25-30 year-old consumer. She still supports unit growth, but if second-half momentum does not appear, she would become more cautious on new openings.
AMD GPU catalyst hinges on second half
AMD's quarter beat and outlook was solid, driven mainly by the CPU business, not the AI GPU buzz. Data center growth may pause in the first half before the first full rack-level GPU solution ships in the second half; the MI400 is make-or-break for AMD's AI GPU story and its ability to compete with NVIDIA.
Avoid AMD; expensive with AI froth
Sarah Kunst doubts AMD can break out this cycle: AI is hard, big companies are winning on chips, and AMD trades at a very expensive triple-digit P/E relative to revenue while AI revenue expectations cool.
Alphabet best positioned to win AI
She has been one of the bigger bulls on Alphabet and believes Google/Alphabet is among the companies best positioned to make money from AI; investors miss the big picture if they do not see Alphabet among the winners.
Korean indexes offer semiconductor hardware exposure
She is seeing a huge uptick in South Korean indexes, which give more exposure to Samsung and other semiconductor/chip hardware names. These are real, long-established companies that should continue to do well.
Rich Weiss
Senior Vice President & Chief Investment Officer of Multi-Asset Strategies, American Century Investments
82:11
Lower rates sooner than futures imply
He believes Kevin Warsh is a dove in hawk's clothing and that the Fed will cut rates sooner than fed funds futures currently price; balance-sheet tightening gives room to lower rates.
Rich Weiss
Senior Vice President & Chief Investment Officer of Multi-Asset Strategies, American Century Investments
82:48
Yield curve control benefits real estate
If yield curve control or Fed/Treasury pressure pushes down long-term yields, mortgage rates should fall. Real estate, after being in the doldrums for years, could become a sector front-runner, and he is investing around that view.
Rich Weiss
Senior Vice President & Chief Investment Officer of Multi-Asset Strategies, American Century Investments
84:13
Favor securitized MBS/ABS over corporate credit
Corporate credit spreads are very tight and big-tech issuance adds concentration risk, so he has been shying away from corporate credit. He is moving toward securitized mortgage-backed and asset-backed credit, which he sees as more liquid and higher yielding.
Rich Weiss
Senior Vice President & Chief Investment Officer of Multi-Asset Strategies, American Century Investments
84:13
Favor securitized MBS/ABS over corporate credit
Corporate credit spreads are very tight and big-tech issuance adds concentration risk, so he has been shying away from corporate credit. He is moving toward securitized mortgage-backed and asset-backed credit, which he sees as more liquid and higher yielding.
Rich Weiss
Senior Vice President & Chief Investment Officer of Multi-Asset Strategies, American Century Investments
84:31
Short dollar on policy-driven weakness
He expects lower rates and sees the administration as intent on weakening the dollar to help the trade balance. He is betting against the dollar, which argues for diversifying outside the U.S.
Up Next
This Bloomberg Markets video, published February 03, 2026, features Rebecca Patterson, Alicia Reese, Barbara Humpton, Mona Mahajan, Abby Roach, Kunjan Sobhani, Sarah Kunst, Rich Weiss discussing IWM, GLD, SILVER, BTC, NFLX, USA Rare Earth, SPY, ACWX, EEM, MDY, CMG, AMD, GOOG, EWY, Fed funds futures, XLRE, LQD, Securitized mortgage-backed/asset-backed credit, UUP. 20 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers: Rebecca Patterson, Alicia Reese, Barbara Humpton, Mona Mahajan, Abby Roach, Kunjan Sobhani, Sarah Kunst, Rich Weiss · Tickers: IWM, GLD, SILVER, BTC, NFLX, USA Rare Earth, SPY, ACWX, EEM, MDY, CMG, AMD, GOOG, EWY, Fed funds futures, XLRE, LQD, Securitized mortgage-backed/asset-backed credit, UUP