Bitcoin crashes to $72,000 for the first time since 2024 US presidential election

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, pushed back hard against the sell-off in software stocks, calling fears that AI will replace software tools “the most illogical thing in the world.”

Speaking at a Cisco event Tuesday night, Jensen said, “Would you use a screwdriver or invent a new screwdriver?” He added that AI is just another user of these tools, not a replacement.

Software-related stocks fell for a second straight day as traders reacted to new tools from Anthropic and others that could automate internal workflows.

But Jensen said Nvidia is already using those tools, and far from replacing staff, they’ve helped employees focus more on chip and system design.

Meanwhile, Broadcom shares jumped 6% in after-hours trading Wednesday after Cryptopolitan reported Google’s blowout earnings and said it plans to spend up to $185 billion on AI infrastructure this year, nearly double last year’s capital expenditure.

That capex surge is good news for Nvidia too. The chipmaker’s shares rose 2% in extended trade, supported by rising demand for its AI semiconductors used in Google’s massive datacenter rollout.

AMD shares crashed 13% on Wednesday after the chipmaker’s Q1 revenue outlook disappointed Wall Street, despite strong results for the fourth quarter.

The company expects $9.8 billion in revenue, plus or minus $300 millionn, ahead of estimates but not enough to satisfy analysts hoping for a bigger AI-driven leap.

CEO Lisa Su told CNBC that demand has picked up sharply over the past few months, especially in the datacenter segment, where CPU demand is “going gangbusters.”

She said businesses are expanding compute capacity at a pace she “would not have imagined,” driven by the rapid rollout of AI workloads in enterprise.

While Lisa insisted the company is seeing real traction, some analysts were underwhelmed by the pace of growth and had expected a far stronger guide given the scale of current AI infrastructure investments.

Lisa also said AMD is still on track to ship its Helios system, a new server-scale AI platform, in the second half of the year, which she believes will be a major inflection point for the business.

The fourth-quarter numbers beat expectations, but the weaker-than-hoped forecast overshadowed everything. That sent shares sliding as traders reacted to the gap between AI hype and actual delivery.

Gold dropped 1.2% to an intraday low of $4,888.19 on Wednesday, sliding below the $5,000 mark again after a brief pop earlier in the session.

The decline came as the US dollar gained strength, with the DXY Index rising 0.3%, putting pressure on precious metals across the board.

Earlier in the day, gold had jumped as much as 2.9%, crossing back above $5,000 as dip buyers stepped in, but the bounce didn’t hold.

By late morning in New York, bullion was trading 1.0% lower at $4,896.37. Silver rose 0.76% to $85.81, while platinum and palladium also posted modest gains.

Prices are still up more than 10% year-to-date, but gold remains over $1,000 below its January 29 record high. Analysts say the market is now stuck in a range, with no clear catalyst in sight.

Bart Melek at TD Securities said gold needs a new trigger to push higher and warned of more rangebound action in the weeks ahead.

Fidelity Fund, which had sold a chunk of gold holdings just before the crash, is watching closely for a chance to get back in, according to George Efstathopoulos.

Several big banks are still bullish: Deutsche Bank reiterated its $6,000 price target, and Goldman Sachs said it sees “significant upside risk” to its $5,400 year-end forecast.

Crypto-related stocks plunged across the board Tuesday, with heavy losses hitting every corner of the sector.

PayPal was the biggest name to crater, collapsing 19.61% to $42.07, after a brutal earnings miss and weak guidance. Galaxy Digital wasn’t far behind, tanking 19.5% to $21.29, followed by Metaplanet, which nosedived 8.68% to $2.42.

Coinbase also fell hard, dropping 5.98% to $176.63, as fears over falling retail activity dragged sentiment. Robinhood shed 4.78%, down to $85.61, while payments firm Block fell 6.27%, closing at $56.62, and Circle dropped 6.34%, now worth $55.13.

Among the miners, Bitmine dropped 4.63%, Cipher fell 0.89%, Riot lost 1.31%, and Core Scientific slipped 2.1%. Hut 8 gained 2.51%, and TeraWulf jumped 6.47%, making them rare winners in the space.

Smaller names like Bitfarms, Argo, CleanSpark, and Alliance Resource Partners each posted modest gains between 0.44% and 3.73%, while most others like MARA, SharpLink, Gemini, and HIVE dropped between 3% and 6%.

American Bitcoin Corp fell 9.09% to $1.30, among the steepest small-cap losses.

Even at the bottom of the market cap ladder, there was red everywhere. Exodus, Meliuz, Canaan, Kulr, and Nano Labs all sank. Figure, Boyaa, Genius, Bitcoin Group, Greenidge, and Twenty One posted no change in price, but trading volume remained thin.

Of all the names tracked, just six companies closed in the green: TeraWulf, Hut 8, Argo, CleanSpark, Alliance, and Intchains, with everything else ending deep in the red.

The crypto slide is now hitting stocks. Strategy, a Bitcoin treasury firm, dropped 9% to $127 after the coin’s latest crash. It wasn’t alone. The S&P 500 fell 1.4% as investors ditched tech and rotated into stocks tied to the real economy.

The Dow gave up a 410-point gain, closing down 0.8%, despite hitting a new intraday record of 49,653.13 earlier in the day. The Nasdaq Composite sank 2.3%, flipping negative for the year as pressure on AI and software names mounted.

Most of the “Magnificent Seven” stocks took hits. Microsoft fell 3%, Meta dropped 2%, and Tesla lost 1%. Nvidia continued its losing streak with another 4% drop, wiping out more of its early-year gains.

Software stocks collapsed, with ServiceNow down 7% and Salesforce down 8%, marking one of their worst days of 2026.

Walmart popped 2%, breaking above a $1 trillion valuation for the first time thanks to digital sales momentum and customer growth.

PepsiCo jumped 4% after beating earnings expectations, while bank stocks like JPMorgan and Citigroup closed in the green.