Wednesday's market anticipates massive earnings from Alphabet and Amazon, alongside a volatility "spotlight" on the ADP employment report due to government shutdown delays.

In this video, Ira Epstein discusses the unexpected downturn in the financial markets that occurred on February 3, 2026, triggered by Anthropic's announcement of a new legal software module that disrupted tech stocks.

Stocks fell sharply, even though the S&P 500 finished the day down just 85 basis points. Technology and software stocks were hit the hardest, pushing the Nasdaq 100 down more than 1.5% and dragging the XLK ETF lower by over 2%.

Gold is staging a strong recovery toward $5,000, while Bitcoin remains under pressure after a significant breakdown. The divergence highlights a shift in speculative flows as markets react to new Federal Reserve leadership and policy shifts.