Sunday Review + Watchlist 2/22/26
A Gold Medal Finish, A Pivotal Week Ahead
Market Recap
Before we get into the markets, Team USA just took down Canada for gold in men’s hockey! Congrats to all the players! Not a bad way to head into a new trading week.
Stocks finally put together a constructive week. The S&P 500 SPY 0.00%↑ closed up about 1.1%, the Nasdaq QQQ 0.00%↑ gained 1.5% and snapped its five-week losing streak, while the Russell 2000 IWM 0.00%↑ lagged again with little meaningful participation. Friday’s push came after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs, triggering a broad rally into the close. At the same time, Q4 GDP came in at 1.4% and PCE inflation ran hotter than expected, keeping the stagflation narrative in play. Oil USO 0.00%↑ jumped roughly 6% on the week to a six-month high as tensions near Iran added a risk premium.
Leadership remains narrow heading into a pivotal week. Chip and AI names held up, with NVDA 0.00%↑ edging higher ahead of Wednesday’s earnings, easily the biggest catalyst on deck. A strong print could stabilize tech after weeks of churn, while a miss would likely hit semis and the broader Nasdaq quickly. Software has been softer, with names like PLTR 0.00%↑ still well off their highs. Energy continues to show relative strength as crude pushes higher, and small caps remain the weak link until proven otherwise.
Low float action stayed selective this week, with RIME 0.00%↑ stealing the show on Tuesday after its AI-driven multi-day surge of roughly 300%+ off early February levels and a big 70%+ post-market spike into the prior week. Once the momentum finally cracked, it delivered a clean backside mean-reversion fade. RXT 0.00%↑ was the other liquid name worth real attention, ripping more than 200% off recent lows as it pushed toward its 200-day and printed over 500 million shares on the week ahead of its February 26 earnings date, which made it the better structured long-side trade while shorts had to respect a strong trend and crowded tape.
Outside of those two, most of the usual suspects behaved like classic gap-and-crap supply plays, with AUUD 0.00%↑, OBAI 0.00%↑, GXAI 0.00%↑, and RUBI 0.00%↑ all giving early pushes that failed to hold. The current low-float cycle continues to favor the short-bias perspective.
What kind of setups did you actually take on RIME and RXT this week—mostly frontside scalps, backside shorts, or both? Leave a comment below.
Watchlist
MU 0.00%↑ / SNDK 0.00%↑ memory names continuing to show a bid amid uncertain markets.
IGV 0.00%↑ forming a big bear flag near the lows, could get ugly if this breaks down under $80.
FSLY 0.00%↑ strong move up from its earnings announcement but need to pullback to the MA’s before its next leg. watching for a daily bar break.
RXT 0.00%↑ big push over the 200sma, inside day, then breakout continuation on Friday, but closed under the D1 high. keeping on watch for either direction.
EQT 0.00%↑ nat gas name showing strength with a big breakout over 62. would like to see it get tighter before breaking out.
Happy trading!