In the week ending February 8 2026, PayPal and Coinbase posted some of the steepest declines on Wall Street, with their Relative Strength Index readings dropping into extreme oversold territory. PayPal slid more than 24% after issuing a weak 2026 forecast and announcing the departure of CEO Alex Chriss, sending its RSI below 11, while Coinbase fell 25% as Bitcoin retreated, pushing its RSI to about 14. Analysts’ average ratings still lean toward "hold" for PayPal and "buy" for Coinbase, with consensus targets implying sizable potential upside but no assurance those gains will materialize.

Over the past year, the Trump administration has directed taxpayer money into equity and governance stakes across at least 10 companies in sectors such as minerals, semiconductors, energy, and defense. These deals include non‑voting shares in Intel, preferred stock and warrants in MP Materials, equity in Lithium Americas, Trilogy Metals and USA Rare Earth, and structured arrangements tied to L3Harris and Westinghouse. In several cases, government holdings come with veto or future ownership rights, positioning federal agencies as shareholders in businesses they also regulate.

On February 8, 2026, Elon Musk's net worth was reported at $845 billion, making him the first individual to exceed $800 billion. A $1.25 trillion SpaceX takeover of xAI left him with about 43% of the combined company, a stake valued at more than $530 billion. Tesla shareholders also approved a performance-based pay package that could reach $1 trillion.

Bitcoin declined 16% over the past week, dropping to $70,008 and briefly touching $60,000 after previously reaching an all‑time high of $126,273 in October. Ether fell 24% to $2,052, and prominent market participants acknowledged there was no single identifiable trigger, pointing instead to shifting risk appetite, policy uncertainty, and profit‑taking.

Anthropic rapidly became the week's strongest tech stock performer after releasing new Claude tools that automate coding, legal work, and complex business tasks. The launch triggered a sharp selloff across software, legal, financial, and real estate tech stocks, as investors reassessed the risk to enterprise platforms. Anthropic's enterprise-focused strategy, high API usage share, and internal target to break even by 2028 are now positioning it as a leading rival to OpenAI.

Stellantis said it will record a €22 billion ($26 billion) charge tied to an EV strategy reset. By 10:30 a.m. in Milan, shares fell 22.9%, while New York-listed stock dropped 20.8% in premarket trading. The automaker suspended its 2026 dividend and aims to raise up to €5 billion via hybrid bonds.

In the week leading up to the February 6, 2026 update, silver surged to a yearly high before collapsing nearly 30% last Friday, then repeatedly rebounded and slid, with spot prices hitting $73 per ounce by Thursday night and New York futures at $72.34. UBS flagged one-month silver volatility above 100%, warned that levels above $85 may be hard to sustain without persistent inflows, and highlighted rich option pricing. The sharpest intraday crash occurred on January 30, when the leveraged AGQ ETF was already down heavily and dumped nearly $4 billion in silver futures, while analysts noted that leveraged products and intense retail demand are distorting trading patterns and could keep prices unstable.

Chinese investors are channeling excess liquidity into metals futures, driving sharp gains in copper, gold, and silver despite weak factory demand. As China's M2 money supply rose 8.5% year-on-year in December while quarterly GDP grew 3.9% in late 2025, speculative trading has surged across metals like silver, aluminum, nickel, tin, and steel wire rod. Copper recently climbed above $14,500 per ton before sliding to $12,750 on the London Metal Exchange, with analysts warning that prices remain largely driven by speculation rather than real consumption.

In January, Tesla delivered 69,129 China-made electric vehicles from its Shanghai plant, up 9.3% from 63,238 units a year earlier, while competitors lost momentum in a slowing market. The figures from the China Passenger Car Association placed Tesla third behind BYD and Geely, with much of its output likely headed for export as domestic demand remained weak. Rising battery metals, copper, aluminum, and chip costs are squeezing margins across the EV sector, prompting Tesla to roll out aggressive zero-interest and low-rate financing offers in China instead of launching new models.