Stocks continue to bleed as tech gets clobbered.

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." ✍️ — Franklin D. Roosevelt  SUMMARY ✅ U.S. equity markets plummeted on Thursday as tech got pummeled. ✅ FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to review Apple News’ content policies. ✅ Surging tariff rates under President Trump have pushed U.S. importers into a record $3.6 billion customs bond shortfall. ✅ Waymo has begun deploying its sixth-generation autonomous driving system in new Ojai robotaxis. ✅ The FDA has refused to review Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine application, citing concerns about the trial’s comparator design. ✅ European publishers have filed an EU antitrust complaint against Google, alleging its AI-generated search summaries misuse news content and undermine publisher revenue. MARKET SNAPSHOT ↘ Dow                            49,451.98                      - 1.34%  ↘ Nasdaq                       22,597.15                      - 2.03%   ↘ S&P                              6,832.76                      - 1.57%  GOVERNMENT FTC Urges Tim Cook to Review Apple News Over Alleged Political Bias Image courtesy of trainy.co FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to review Apple News’ terms of service and content curation practices following allegations that the platform favors left-leaning outlets while suppressing conservative voices. In a letter posted Wednesday on X, Ferguson referenced recent reports claiming Apple News has “systematically promoted” content from left-leaning publications while limiting visibility for more conservative sources. Apple declined to comment. Ferguson cited a study by the conservative watchdog group Media Research Center, which analyzed 620 featured Apple News stories during high-traffic morning periods in January. According to the study, outlets rated as right-leaning by media bias assessor AllSides were not included in the sample. President Donald Trump shared a New York Post article about the study on his Truth Social platform. Concerns about perceived anti-conservative bias in media and technology platforms have been a recurring theme during the Trump administration. In December, the White House launched a media bias section on its website, including an “offender hall of shame” highlighting stories the administration considers misleading. The administration also introduced a public portal encouraging Americans to submit examples of alleged media bias. In his letter, Ferguson acknowledged that Apple has broad discretion over the content it promotes on its platform. “We do not have the authority to require Apple or any other firm to take affirmative positions on any political issue, nor to curate news offerings consistent with one ideology or another,” he wrote. However, Ferguson pointed to Section 5 of the FTC Act, suggesting that Apple News could face scrutiny if any suppression or promotion of content runs counter to consumers’ reasonable expectations and is not adequately disclosed. He urged Cook to conduct a “comprehensive review” of Apple News’ curation practices and take corrective action if they are inconsistent with the company’s stated terms. Apple has largely avoided major friction during Trump’s second term, navigating tariff pressures and renewed scrutiny over China-based manufacturing. In August, Cook met with Trump in the Oval Office and pledged an additional $100 billion toward expanding U.S. manufacturing efforts. ECONOMICS Trump Tariffs Leave Importers Facing Record $3.5 Billion Customs Bond Shortfall Image courtesy of pbs.org President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have driven a sharp increase in government revenue — but they’ve also created a record financial strain for U.S. importers required to secure special bonds guaranteeing payment of trade duties. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shared with CNBC, customs bond “insufficiencies” reached 27,479 in fiscal year 2025, with a combined value of nearly $3.6 billion. That marks the highest number and total value ever recorded and is roughly double the levels seen in 2019, when tariffs imposed during Trump’s first term triggered a similar spike. Customs bonds serve as a financial guarantee that importers will pay required duties and taxes. CBP regularly reviews bond adequacy and flags a bond as insufficient when an importer’s duty liability exceeds 100% of its bond coverage. If a bond falls short, shipments can be held at port until the importer secures additional coverage. The surge in bond shortfalls coincides with record tariff collections. In January alone, tariff revenue totaled $30 billion, bringing the fiscal year-to-date total to $124 billion — up 304% from the same period in 2025. “Bonds are the primary tool used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to safeguard federal revenue and ensure compliance with trade laws,” a CBP spokesperson said. Trade attorneys say many companies underestimate how much bond coverage they need. Jennifer Diaz of Diaz Trade Law noted that businesses often assume the standard $50,000 minimum bond will cover them for a full year, but rising tariffs can quickly push obligations higher. As tariff rates on some goods climb from 10% to 25% or more, required bond amounts have escalated dramatically — in some cases reaching hundreds of millions of dollars. Surety providers report bond increases of 200% or more, with one large auto manufacturer seeing its bond requirement jump 550%, according to Marsh Risk’s international surety leader Vincent Moy. Importers purchase customs bonds through specialized insurance companies, known as sureties, typically about 30 days before shipments arrive. The bonds are held by Customs for 314 days without interest while duties are finalized. Importers generally pay a premium of about 1% of the bond amount, with bond limits set at roughly 10% of duties and taxes paid over a rolling 12-month period. As tariffs rise, bond requirements increase accordingly. If a bond is deemed insufficient, shipments are detained until additional coverage is secured — a process that can take at least 10 days. In addition to bonds, importers must often post collateral with insurers, tying up additional capital. Industry experts say the growing financial demands are also straining relationships between importers and customs brokers. The financial pressure could shift depending on a pending Supreme Court decision regarding the legality of Trump’s tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). A ruling could come as soon as Feb. 20. If tariffs are ultimately overturned, importers may be eligible for refunds — not only for duties paid, but also for associated bond amounts and collateral. However, insurers caution that any release of funds would require documentation review and could take time. For now, as tariff revenue hits record highs, importers are grappling with the mounting costs of compliance. AUTOMOTIVE Waymo Rolls Out Next-Generation Ojai Robotaxis to Strengthen U.S. Lead Image courtesy of Patrick T. Fallon | AFP via Getty Images file Waymo said Thursday it has begun deploying its sixth-generation autonomous driving system in a new line of robotaxis called Ojai, initially offering fully driverless rides to employees and their guests in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Alphabet-owned company said the upgraded system uses more cost-effective components and is better equipped to operate in harsh weather conditions — improvements that are central to its broader expansion strategy. Waymo Vice President of Engineering Satish Jeyachandran described the sixth-generation “Waymo Driver” as the foundation for the company’s “next era of expansion.” The Ojai vehicles are built on a base model supplied by Chinese automaker Geely’s subsidiary Zeekr, with Waymo installing its autonomous technology in the U.S. The new system will also power robotaxis based on the Hyundai Ioniq 5, while Waymo’s existing Jaguar I-PACE fleet will continue operating on its fifth-generation platform. Waymo plans to gradually expand access to public riders later this year before entering additional U.S. cities. The company currently operates fully autonomous ride-hailing services in six U.S. markets — Austin, the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Miami — and intends to launch in Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego and Washington in 2026. Internationally, Waymo is preparing to debut in London. The next-generation system has been tested on public roads since its unveiling in 2024. According to Waymo, it features upgraded lidar and radar systems, a new 17-megapixel imaging system that reduces the number of required cameras, and in-house algorithms designed to improve performance in rain and snow. The vehicles also include integrated cleaning systems to maintain sensor visibility in inclement weather. The global robotaxi market is projected to exceed $25 billion by 2030, according to prior estimates from Goldman Sachs. While Waymo currently leads in U.S. driverless ride-hailing, competitors including Amazon-owned Zoox and Tesla are still testing their systems without broad commercial deployment. Meanwhile, Chinese firms such as Baidu’s Apollo Go and WeRide have been expanding internationally at a faster pace. Waymo’s use of Chinese-made base vehicles has drawn scrutiny from some Republican lawmakers. During a recent Senate hearing, Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio questioned the company’s partnership. Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp said the company does not share its autonomous driving technology, sensor data or rider information with Zeekr, which supplies only the base vehicles. Alphabet’s “Other Bets” segment, which includes Waymo, reported losses of $7.51 billion in 2025, up from $4.44 billion in 2024. Last week, Waymo announced it raised $16 billion in a funding round led by Alphabet, valuing the company at $126 billion. As Waymo scales into colder and more weather-variable regions, particularly in the Northeast, the ability of its vehicles to safely operate in challenging conditions will be key to maintaining its competitive edge. HEALTHCARE FDA Declines to Review Moderna’s mRNA Flu Vaccine Application Image courtesy of bostonglobe.com The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is refusing to review Moderna’s application for approval of its new mRNA influenza vaccine, reversing earlier signals that supported the company’s phase 3 trial design. Moderna’s study enrolled more than 40,000 adults age 50 and older and aimed to support approval in that group. In a press release, the company said the FDA determined the trial was not “adequate and well-controlled” because it did not use the “best-available standard of care” as a comparator vaccine. The agency argued that a higher-dose flu shot should have been used for adults 65 and older. Moderna noted that neither federal regulations nor FDA flu vaccine guidance mention a “best-available standard of care” requirement. Prior FDA correspondence had expressed a preference for a higher-dose comparator but stated that a licensed standard-dose vaccine would be acceptable. Angela Rasmussen, PhD, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, said the design followed the same framework used for other flu vaccine trials. Moderna’s president, Stephen Hoge, MD, told The New York Times the company was surprised by the decision, given earlier FDA feedback. The vaccine is under review in the European Union, Canada, and Australia, and Moderna has requested a meeting with the FDA. Stephane Bancel, MBA, Moderna’s CEO, said the refusal did not cite safety or efficacy concerns and argued that the agency had previously agreed to the study design. Paul Offit, MD, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the FDA “changed their mind,” calling the move unfair. Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine, warned that the decision could undermine confidence in the FDA and discourage vaccine investment in the United States. Reporting from STAT suggested that CBER Director Vinay Prasad, MD, overruled career scientists who had planned to proceed with the review, though a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson said staff had reached a “diverse set of conclusions.” In a press briefing, a senior FDA official defended the refusal as ethical, arguing Moderna should have used a CDC-recommended high-dose vaccine in seniors. The official described the move as procedural, emphasizing that a refusal to file is not a rejection. The official also called mRNA an “entirely novel platform” warranting heightened scrutiny. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of mRNA vaccines, has reduced federal support for some vaccine initiatives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, mRNA vaccines were widely credited with preventing severe disease and were recognized with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Moderna’s flu shot was designed as an alternative to traditional egg-based vaccines, which require months to produce and may be less precisely matched to circulating strains. Robert Hopkins Jr., MD, of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said mRNA technology could allow faster updates if new variants emerge mid-season, offering greater flexibility in responding to evolving flu threats. TECH European Publishers File EU Antitrust Complaint Against Google Over AI Overviews Image courtesy of Mike Blake via Reuters Alphabet unit Google faces a new EU antitrust complaint from the European Publishers Council (EPC) over its AI-generated search summaries, known as AI Overviews, potentially adding momentum to an ongoing European Commission investigation. Publishers and tech rivals have raised concerns that Big Tech’s dominance in emerging AI technologies could sideline competitors and allow platforms to use news content without fair compensation. “It is about stopping a dominant gatekeeper from using its market power to take publishers’ content without consent, without fair compensation, and without giving publishers any realistic way to protect their journalism,” EPC Chairman Christian Van Thillo said in a statement. He added that AI Overviews and Google’s AI Mode “fundamentally undermine the economic compact that has sustained the open web.” Google rejected the allegations. “These inaccurate claims are an attempt to hold back helpful new AI features that Europeans want,” a Google spokesperson said. “We design our AI features to surface great content across the web and provide easy-to-use controls for publishers to manage how their content appears.” 📉 ON THE MOVE AND NOTABLES 📈 ✔️ Both Asian and European equities extended their solid performance so far in 2026. ✔️ In fixed income, bond markets are stabilizing after a stronger-than-expected January payrolls report triggered a sell-off yesterday. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield is down two basis points to 4.16%. ✔️ The dollar is steady against a trade-weighted basket of currencies. ✔️ Oil prices are lower by roughly 1%, though at $64 per barrel they remain near their highs for the year. Risk-averse sentiment pervaded global markets and investors digested fresh developments in US-Iran tensions that continue to cloud the supply outlook. ✔️ Cisco Systems fell amid concerns about rising memory-chip costs. ✔️ Initial unemployment claims came in above expectations today, hovering around 230,000 following last week’s spike. The four-week moving average has risen to 220,000, a three-month high. ✔️ Sales of previously owned homes in January dropped a wider-than-expected 8.4% from December. ✔️ According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year fixed rate this week was 6.09%, down from 6.11% the previous week. The 52-week low is 6.06%. Meanwhile, the 15-year fixed averaged 5.44%, down from 5.50%. ✔️ Electricity prices jumped 6.9% in 2025 year over year, more than double the headline inflation rate of 2.9%, according to Goldman Sachs. ✔️ Gold declined in a sudden selloff across financial markets, with some traders dumping metals to cover losses in equities. Silver and copper also plunged. ✔️ McDonald’s (MCD) edged down despite delivering better-than-expected earnings and revenue. The company also raised its dividend and reported 5.7% global same-store sales growth. ✔️ AppLovin (APP) dropped. While the company beat on both earnings and revenue and issued stronger-than-expected first-quarter guidance, software stocks faced renewed selling pressure yesterday. AppLovin also saw two analysts cut price targets following the report, citing competitive challenges from Meta Platforms (META). ✔️ Rivian (RIVN) reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday. ✔️ OpenAI has warned US lawmakers that its Chinese rival DeepSeek is using unfair and increasingly sophisticated methods to extract results from leading US AI models to train the next generation of its breakthrough R1 chatbot, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg News. ✔️ Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) gained after posting earnings that exceeded expectations and reaffirming its prior guidance. The company noted that major sporting events, including the Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, position it well for 2026. ✔️ Micron (MU) surged after dismissing concerns about competition and announcing volume production and commercial shipments of its latest high-bandwidth memory chips. ✔️ Other storage names—including Sandisk (SNDK), Seagate (STX), and Western Digital (WDC)—also moved higher as AI-driven demand continues to support the data and memory space. ✔️ Broader semiconductor and AI-related stocks were firmer as well, signaling a return of some risk appetite. Texas Instruments (TXN), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), CoreWeave (CRWV), and Nvidia (NVDA) each rose in early trading. ✔️ Fastly (FSLY) surged after reporting earnings that beat Wall Street expectations and issuing solid forward guidance. ✔️ Apple (AAPL) ticked modestly higher despite a Bloomberg report indicating that a long-anticipated Siri upgrade has encountered delays, potentially postponing certain features. ✔️ Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) continued to struggle. Both declined again on Wednesday, with Microsoft pressured by broader software weakness and Amazon still weighed down by last week’s earnings miss. Amazon has now fallen for seven consecutive sessions. ✔️ Bitcoin (BTC) edged slightly higher but remained well below $70,000, capping another challenging week for bullish investors.Bottom of Form 💲What Else to Watch This Week 💲 🟢 February 13: January CPI and January core CPI, and expected earnings from Enbridge (ENB) and Moderna (MRNA). 🟢 February 16: U.S. markets closed for President's Day. 🟢 February 17: Expected earnings from Medtronic (MDT), Constellation Energy (CEG), and Palo Alto Networks (PANW). 🟢 February 18: January housing starts and building permits, January industrial production, FOMC meeting minutes, and expected earnings from Analog Devices (ADI), Booking Holdings (BKNG), Carvana (CVNA), DoorDash (DASH), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), and eBay (EBAY). 🟢 February 19: January pending home sales and expected earnings from Walmart (WMT), Alibaba (BABA), Deere (DE), Southern (SO), and Newmont (NEM). 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