3 Unstoppable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks to Buy Right Now for Less Than $1,000  The Motley Fool

By AJ Vicens Feb 2 (Reuters) - A Chinese-linked cyberespionage group with a long history hijacked the update process for the popular code editing platform Notepad++ to deliver a custom backdoor and other malware to targeted users, the program’s developer and cybersecurity researchers said on Monday. Don Ho, the French-based developer of Notepad++, said in a blog posted to the project’s website on Monday that malicious actors had targeted the update process for certain targeted users beginning in June 2025. The hackers had access to the hosting server used for Notepad++ updates until September 2, 2025, but maintained credentials to some hosting services until December 2, 2025, according to Ho. It was not clear which Notepad++ users were targeted, or how many. Ho said in an email that he did not have visibility into how many malicious updates were downloaded. "What I do know from the investigation is that the attack was highly selective - not all users during the compromise window received malicious updates, indicating deliberate targeting rather than widespread distribution," Ho said. A spokesperson for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the agency "is aware of the reported compromise and is investigating possible exposure across the United States Government (USG)." Ho’s blog included a message from his hosting provider concluding that the server used to deliver updates to customers "could have been compromised," and that the hackers specifically targeted the domain associated with Notepad++. Internet registration records show that the domain was hosted by Lithuanian hosting provider Hostinger until January 21, a fact Ho confirmed in the email. A spokesperson for Hostinger told Reuters in an email that a "bad actor performed a supply chain attack, during which traffic to the URL of the update file was redirected." Hostinger is working with Notepad++ and sharing all incident-related information, and has also published a blog to the company’s website sharing what it can, the spokesperson said. Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 attributed the hacking campaign to a Chinese-linked cyberespionage group tracked as Lotus Blossom in a blog post posted on Monday. Active since 2009, the group has historically targeted government, telecom, aviation, critical infrastructure and media sectors across Southeast Asia and, more recently, Central America, according to Rapid7. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said: "China opposes and fights all forms of hacking in accordance with the law. We do not encourage, support or connive at cyber attacks. We reject the relevant parties’ irresponsible assertion that the Chinese government sponsored hacking activity when it had not presented any factual evidence." The hacking group used its access to deliver a custom backdoor that could give it interactive control of infected computers, which could then be used as a foothold to steal data and target other computers, according to the analysis. Kevin Beaumont, a cybersecurity researcher, said in a December 2, 2025, blog post that he was aware of three organizations with interests in East Asia which had security incidents potentially tied to Notepad++. What are the best investment opportunities in 2026? The best investments start with better data. Going with your gut has its place, but when excitement masquerades as intuition, it can lead to costly mistakes—or analysis paralysis. InvestingPro+ combines institutional-grade data with AI-powered insights that you don't need a finance PhD to understand. It won't guarantee winners, but it will certainly help you find more of them, more often. So what are the best investments of 2026 so far?

Stocks Roar Back as Beaten-Down Tech Sector Rebounds  Nasdaq

Stock Market Today, Feb. 6: Iren Rises on Microsoft Cloud Expansion and AI Data Center Pivot  Yahoo Finance

Stock Market Today, Feb. 6: Amazon Falls After $200 Billion AI and Cloud Spending Plan Raises Cash Flow Concerns  Yahoo Finance

Stock Market Today, Feb. 6: Robinhood Rises With Crypto as Volatility Drives Trading  Yahoo Finance

Stock prices are rising for consumer staples amid tech uncertainty  marketplace.org

New York Stock Exchange closes higher  Anadolu Ajansı

Stock Market Today, Feb. 6: Snap's Fallen Almost 25% This Week, Even After Today's Gains  Yahoo Finance

By Norihiko Shirouzu and Nathan Gomes Feb 6 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor’s surprise CEO switch comes as global automakers confront a tumultuous industry landscape - one that the Japanese automaker has been navigating more adeptly than most. The world’s No. 1 carmaker by sales said on Friday that it is moving away from CEO Koji Sato after a three-year stint, a relatively short tenure for the man hand-picked by Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda. Taking the reins on April 1 will be finance chief Kenta Kon, a close ally and former secretary of Toyoda. Analysts expressed surprise at the move, given Toyota’s relative success during Sato’s run at steering through the cascade of challenges facing all global carmakers: the rise of Chinese competitors, a costly transition to electric cars and an increasingly complex trade outlook stemming from U.S. tariffs. "This wasn’t expected given the success that Toyota has been having, and three years isn’t a very long time" for a Toyota CEO’s tenure, said Morningstar autos analyst David Whiston. Toyoda, the previous CEO, served from 2009 to 2023. Sato will become vice chairman and take on the newly created role of chief industry officer, the company said. Whiston cited the success of Toyota’s electrification strategy, which centers on its market-leading hybrid technology, rather than a wholehearted embrace of electric cars. The choice of a financial mind is also striking given Toyoda’s longtime emphasis on product development and making Toyota’s cars more exciting. When Sato took over three years ago, Toyoda touted the engineer and former Lexus chief’s credibility as a car aficionado who could lead the company into different realms of mobility. Installing Kon could signal that the company wants a sharper focus on the financials as pressures from tariffs and a wave of Chinese exports hit some of Toyota’s key markets, said Jeffrey Liker, a professor emeritus of industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan and the author of several books about Toyota. "Toyota has high standards both for the products they sell," Liker said, "and for meeting their financial targets." Toyota endured criticism earlier in the decade as other global automakers went harder into electrics. But company executives feel vindicated now that battery-powered vehicles have failed to take off in some markets, especially the United States, and many automakers are dialing back their EV plans. Toyota remains the world’s most profitable carmaker, but the company has said that the bevy of tariffs launched by U.S. President Donald Trump last year will cost it around $9 billion during its fiscal year, which ends March 31. On Friday, the company raised its full-year operating profit outlook by almost 12%, or 3.8 trillion yen ($24.2 billion), helped by a weaker yen and cost cuts. Shares rose about 3% during U.S. trading hours Friday. Kon is a Toyota lifer who came up through the company’s accounting and finance ranks, and has been chief financial officer since July. Kon is also involved in aspects of Toyota’s business that go beyond the core automaking operation. He is a director at Woven by Toyota, the company’s software-focused technology unit, which is tasked with deriving fresh revenue streams that go beyond car sales. And Kon also is a director at Toyota Fudosan, the company’s real estate unit that has been leading the buyout of forklift company Toyota Industries. At a press conference Friday to announce the changes, Kon was asked: If Toyoda is a car guy and Sato’s passion is creating cars, what kind of leader is he? "I like cars too, but I am a finance guy now," Kon answered. "I am extremely particular about the money and the earning power needed to ensure cars are designed, engineered and manufactured properly, and that sufficient investments to do so are made." ProPicks AI evaluates TM alongside thousands of other companies every month using 100+ financial metrics. Using powerful AI to generate exciting stock ideas, it looks beyond popularity to assess fundamentals, momentum, and valuation. The AI has no bias—it simply identifies which stocks offer the best risk-reward based on current data with notable past winners that include Super Micro Computer (+185%) and AppLovin (+157%). Want to know if TM is currently featured in any ProPicks AI strategies, or if there are better opportunities in the same space?

The Dow Jones topped 50,000 for the first time, with JPMorgan, Apple and Boeing in buy areas. The Nasdaq is ailing, but these AI stocks are reviving. The post Dow Jones Tops 50,000 As Apple, Boeing, JPMorgan Flash Buy Signals; Is AI Trade Reviving? appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

Tech Stocks, Crypto, and Gold Whipsaw After a Volatile Week  morningstar.com

Stock market hits all-time high as Dow closes above 50,000  The Washington Post

Stock Market Today, Feb. 6: Nvidia Leads Rally After AI Hardware Rebounds  Yahoo Finance

Why Did Rigetti Computing Stock Soar 18.3% Today?  Yahoo Finance

Investing.com -- Liquidity in the financial system is not coming from the Federal Reserve, but from derivatives markets and speculators, according to Tom Essaye, founder and president of Sevens Report. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, central banks around the world had flooded markets with liquidity in order to prevent a collapse, while also dramatically increasing their balance sheets. The Federal Reserve led the way, but the U.S. central bank has since 2022 been steadily shrinking its balance sheet. “A subscriber wrote in with an interesting inquiry regarding the correlation between the Fed’s balance sheet and the S&P 500 since 2009. He specifically pointed out that the S&P 500 has typically risen when the Fed’s balance sheet is expanding, and vice-versa, from 2009 through 2022,” Essaye said in a research note on Friday. “That makes sense as a supportive Fed stance and quantitative easing favor high-liquidity market environments. Conversely, a declining Fed balance sheet has coincided with spikes in broad market volatility and sharp declines in equities amid lower market liquidity conditions,” he said. But Essaye noted that since the late-2022 Wall Street lows, the positive correlation between the balance sheet and the border stock market has not been holding up. “So, the critical question to ask is: Where is the liquidity coming from if not the Fed?” Essaye asked. He conceded that it was tough to find one sole reason for elevated liquidity supporting broader markets when not coming from the Fed, but did highlight a trend he found when looking at market history. “Strong stock market rallies almost always occurred in the wake of short-lived spikes in volatility as measured by the VIX, which suggests that a combination of heavily leveraged put-writing activity and/or money pouring into short-volatility strategies after a volatility spike were providing an ‘artificial tailwind’ for the broader stock market indexes, namely the S&P 500, options for which are the critical inputs in calculating the VIX,” he said. “The reason short-volatility strategies support gains in the stock market are mechanical in nature is because an options or derivatives ‘dealer,’ whether it be a big hedge fund or a wirehouse bank’s ‘spec-desk,’ needs to hedge the short-volatility exposure. And they do that with long equity positions,” Essaye explained. As per his research, some examples of this behavior that played out was a volatile 2016 into a favorable short-volatility trade in 2017, and more recently, the volatile beginning to 2025 before a favorable short-volatility trade beyond April 2025. “Without a Fed balance sheet expansion ‘backstop,’ derivatives markets and speculators are largely responsible for the level of market liquidity, which directly influences the magnitude of market moves when headlines are driving markets, two dynamics we’re facing right now. As such, low liquidity, high leverage, and the lack of Fed support leave the risks of high market volatility elevated in early 2026,” Essaye said. “Such an environment can lead to overstated moves in both directions, which means keeping close tabs on core market fundamentals will be key to getting this likely increasingly noisy market ‘right’ in the months and quarters ahead,” he added. The stock market has seen a topsy-turvy 2026 so far, and this week has been especially volatile. The S&P 500 is up 1.2% YTD. Here are some popular exchange-traded funds that track the benchmark S&P 500 index: SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO), and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:IVV). Which stock should you buy in your very next trade? AI computing powers are changing the stock market. Investing.com's ProPicks AI includes dozens of winning stock portfolios chosen by our advanced AI. Year to date, 2 out of 3 global portfolios are beating their benchmark indexes, with 88% in the green. Our flagship Tech Titans strategy doubled the S&P 500 within 18 months, including notable winners like Super Micro Computer (+185%) and AppLovin (+157%). Which stock will be the next to soar?

Investing.com -- San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly indicated Friday she believes one or two additional interest rate cuts may be necessary to address weakening labor market conditions. "I think we have to keep an open mind, a very open mind" on rates, Daly said in an interview with Reuters. She supported the Fed’s decision last week to maintain the benchmark interest rate at 3.50%-3.75%, but noted "you could make a case for going ahead and taking a little more off." Track Fed decisions in real time with rate-path forecasts, dot-plot analysis, and instant market reactions on InvestingPro — now 50% off. Daly expressed particular concern about workers facing a "knife’s edge" situation with higher prices eroding wages and limited job opportunities. She pointed to the struggles of recent college graduates finding employment as a troubling indicator of labor market weakness. "I’m a little more worried about the labor market than I am about inflation," Daly stated, adding that while risks to price stability and maximum employment appear "relatively balanced," vulnerabilities tilt toward labor market concerns. For rate cuts to proceed, Daly emphasized the need for confidence that inflation is on a downward path and recognition that labor market challenges are more severe than current data suggests. The U.S. unemployment rate stood at 4.4% in December. Daly warned that a "low-firing" job market could quickly shift to a "some-firing" environment if businesses don’t see expected demand materialize, potentially requiring Fed intervention. While Daly does not hold a voting position on the Fed’s rate-setting committee this year, she participates in policy meetings and her views provide insight into ongoing deliberations among Fed officials. Which stock should you buy in your very next trade? AI computing powers are changing the stock market. Investing.com's ProPicks AI includes dozens of winning stock portfolios chosen by our advanced AI. Year to date, 2 out of 3 global portfolios are beating their benchmark indexes, with 88% in the green. Our flagship Tech Titans strategy doubled the S&P 500 within 18 months, including notable winners like Super Micro Computer (+185%) and AppLovin (+157%). Which stock will be the next to soar?

Weekly Market Update: Stocks Gain 0.04% as Consumer Defensives Rise and Consumer Cyclicals Fall  morningstar.com

Crypto Stocks End Day Higher; Amazon Drops  Bloomberg.com