The Big 3A quick look at the top stories we’re following this week.Tech stocks drive U.S. equities higher to start the week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both rise; the Dow logs another new record high.Investors await a trove of data this week. Markets are keeping an eye on unemployment figures for January, due Wednesday, and a CPI report set to publish on Friday.Key tech stock earnings reports on tap for this week. Investors are watching closely for current performance and future outlook from leaders like Cisco Systems (CSCO), Applied Materials (AMAT), Arista Networks (ANET).This week’s Company Earnings Announcements at a glanceArch Capital Group Ltd.  (ACGL)--Monday, 2/9The Coca-Cola Company (KO)--Tuesday, 2/10AstraZeneca PLC (AZN)--Tuesday, 2/10Cisco Systems (CSCO)--Wednesday, 2/11McDonald’s Corporation (MCD)--Wednesday, 2/11T-Mobil US, Inc. (TMUS)--Wednesday, 2/11Applied Materials (AMAT)--Thursday, 2/12Arista Networks (ANET)--Thursday, 2/12Moderna (MRNA)--Friday, 2/13

In these uncertain times, at least there’s one thing investors can count on – the continuing skyward climb of the tech sector. Oh, wait. As Erik Smolinski explains on this week’s episode of Ask Urvin, tech hasn’t just struggled of late. It’s also been dragging everything down with it. Speaking on Wednesday, Erik pointed out that “If we measure where we are in terms of a pullback on the S&P 500, we're still within 5%.” “For those that don't know,” Erik adds, “the market spends the overwhelming majority of its life within 5% of all-time highs, so this still places us within a generally healthy pullback region.” Not only that, but by week’s end, the markets once again whipped back the other way. After a generally rough week, all three major indices surged into the closing bell on Friday. Still, there is a bigger picture here that largely concerns the tech sector. As markets falter on Wednesday, Erik pointed out “that this pullback is largely being driven by tech.”Naturally, we’ve grown accustomed to the exact opposite trend over the last several years. And if you stand back for a look at the whole year, that still seems like it could be true. As Erik points out, the 12-month outlook suggests that tech is still one of the strongest sectors in the markets. “In a one year performance trend,” Erik says. “Tech is third.”But what happens when we zoom in? “Let's go to six months. All of a sudden, tech is third from the bottom,” says Erik. “When you see big shifts like that, that's actually telling you something about the momentum of the underlying sector.”Now let’s see what happens when we go in for an even closer look. “Let's look at three months,” said Erik. “Oh shit, tech is now net negative, and it is dead last by a wide margin.”At one month? “Dead last, again,” says Erik. “This recent move in tech clearly has come online over the last six months or so, and it's really been accelerating in the near term,” Erik notes. “And a lot of this weakness is coming from a small number of names.” Erik highlights the recent downtrend for big-time tech players including Microsoft, Oracle, and AMD. As we close in on the end of a bumpy week, it may be time to acknowledge the possibility that the tech sector is overvalued, and we’re starting to see the cracks. Consider Palantir, an AI leader whose revenue comes almost entirely through government and military contracts. Just six months ago, Palantir was trading at a P/E ratio of $454, which means that investors were paying $454 for every $1 of the company’s current annual earnings. From the perspective that AI stocks are insanely overvalued, the pullback that we’re seeing in the tech sector right now makes a lot of sense. And, says Erik, “This type of pull back, has a higher probability of continuation to the downside versus not, at least in the near term.” On the bright side, maybe some of these overvalued tech stocks will start to behave more rationally. Let’s find out.

The Big 3Monday, February 2, 2026 A quick look at the top stories we’re following this week.S&P 500 Quarterly Earnings are beating expectations. With more than 160 large-cap companies reporting financial results so far this season, earnings are up 15.3% and sales are up 7.4%.Crypto stocks are down following a rough weekend for Bitcoin.The largest cryptocurrency hit $74,553, its lowest intraday level since April 7, 2025.Morgan Stanley predicts heightened Treasury volatility Under new Fed Chair. The investment bank anticipates that a Federal Reserve led by Kevin Warsh would create greater volatility due to the central bank’s reduced public communications.This week’s Company Earnings Announcements at a glancePalantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR)--Monday, 2/2Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK)--Tuesday, ⅔PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP)--Tuesday, ⅔Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)--Tuesday, ⅔Pfizer (PFE)--Tuesday, 2/3Alphabet Inc. (GOOG)--Wednesday, 2/4Eli Lilly and Company (LLY)--Wednesday, 2/4Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)--Thursday, 2/5Shell plc (SHEL)--Thursday, 2/5Toyota Motor Corporation (TM)--Friday, 2/6Phillip Morris International Inc. (PM)--Friday, 2/6