{"id":58789,"date":"2026-02-19T12:09:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/dowjonestodaydow-jones-slides-as-inflation-fears-resurface-defensive-stocks-hedge-losses\/58789\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T12:09:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:09:31","slug":"dowjonestodaydow-jones-slides-as-inflation-fears-resurface-defensive-stocks-hedge-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/dowjonestodaydow-jones-slides-as-inflation-fears-resurface-defensive-stocks-hedge-losses\/58789\/","title":{"rendered":"[DowJonesToday]Dow Jones Slides as Inflation Fears Resurface; Defensive Stocks Hedge Losses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/dowjones\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Index (^DJI)<\/strong> was down <strong>222.79 (-0.4486%)<\/strong> points today, reaching <strong>49,439.87<\/strong>, while <strong>Dow Futures (YM=F)<\/strong> was down <strong>144.00 (-0.2896%)<\/strong> points. The primary narrative driving the market was a <strong>hotter-than-expected Producer Price Index (PPI)<\/strong> report, which fueled fears that the <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong> might delay interest rate cuts. This shift in sentiment caused a spike in <strong>Treasury yields<\/strong>, leading to a rotation out of high-growth tech stocks and into defensive, value-oriented positions as investors reassessed the path of inflation.<\/p>\n<p>Leading the gainers, <strong>Verizon (<a href=\"\/stock\/VZ\">VZ<\/a>)<\/strong> rose <strong>2.00%<\/strong> to <strong>$49.04<\/strong>, as its stable dividend profile attracted risk-averse investors during the volatility. Retail giant <strong>Walmart (<a href=\"\/stock\/WMT\">WMT<\/a>)<\/strong> followed closely, gaining <strong>1.73%<\/strong> to <strong>$128.89<\/strong>, while <strong>Chevron (<a href=\"\/stock\/CVX\">CVX<\/a>)<\/strong> climbed <strong>1.56%<\/strong> to <strong>$186.72<\/strong> on the back of rising energy costs. Other defensive stalwarts like <strong>McDonald&#39;s (<a href=\"\/stock\/MCD\">MCD<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>Procter &amp; Gamble (<a href=\"\/stock\/PG\">PG<\/a>)<\/strong> saw gains of <strong>1.12%<\/strong> and <strong>1.11%<\/strong>, respectively, as the market braced for a &quot;higher-for-longer&quot; interest rate environment.<\/p>\n<p>Conversely, <strong>Nike (<a href=\"\/stock\/NKE\">NKE<\/a>)<\/strong> was the biggest loser, falling <strong>1.53%<\/strong> to <strong>$64.55<\/strong> amid worries regarding discretionary spending. Software and financial giants also faced pressure; <strong>Salesforce (<a href=\"\/stock\/CRM\">CRM<\/a>)<\/strong> dropped <strong>1.44%<\/strong> to <strong>$185.15<\/strong>, while <strong>American Express (<a href=\"\/stock\/AXP\">AXP<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>IBM (<a href=\"\/stock\/IBM\">IBM<\/a>)<\/strong> both decreased by <strong>1.37%<\/strong>. Entertainment giant <strong>Disney (<a href=\"\/stock\/DIS\">DIS<\/a>)<\/strong> also struggled, losing <strong>1.22%<\/strong> to <strong>$105.78<\/strong>. Despite the broader tech slump, <strong>Microsoft (<a href=\"\/stock\/MSFT\">MSFT<\/a>)<\/strong> managed a small gain of <strong>0.39%<\/strong>, while <strong>Nvidia (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>)<\/strong> remained virtually unchanged, edging up just <strong>0.01%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dow Jones Index (^DJI) was down 222.79 (-0.4486%) points today, reaching 49,439.87, while Dow Futures (YM=F) was down 144.00 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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