Good morning, investors. Nvidia’s earnings beat wasn’t enough to satisfy Wall Street on Thursday.

With the stock notching one of its worst days in months, I joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business to discuss the Magnificent 7's weak start to the year and the broader rotation trade.

As for this morning, we’re turning our attention to the latest casualty in the AI-fueled layoffs story.

AI-driven layoffs arrive

Wall Street is excited for Block to move forward with fewer humans and more AI.

The Jack Dorsey-led company announced it will cut more than 4,000 employees, or about half its workforce, and investors aggressively piled into the stock on the news.

While Block did report solid earnings, the stock soared more than 24% after hours largely on account of its restructuring.

In an internal memo Dorsey released publicly, he called out "intelligence tools” and “smaller and flatter teams.”

The layoffs, he said, are the result of him choosing decisive action over gradual attrition.

“A decision at this scale carries risk,” Dorsey said. “But so does standing still.”

That framing — act now or get disrupted later — echoes Citrini Research’s viral outlook from earlier in the week.

AI, according to the bearish report, will not simply make individuals more productive but push companies to radically slash headcount and embrace automation.

Block now anticipates up to $500 million in restructuring charges in the near-term, though the market reaction suggests investors are more than willing to take the hit for a leaner, more efficient company over the long haul.

Separately, eBay also announced layoffs this week, eliminating 6% of its workforce or about 800 employees.

While it wasn’t as explicit as Block in its AI ambitions, the internet marketplace has been accelerating its AI-related investments and projects over recent months.

Shares of eBay rose 3.1% during the trading session after its layoffs.

The pattern for now is clear.

Layoffs chalked up to rising productivity and AI usage are rewarded in the stock market.

Should Citrini’s warning of an AI-driven shrinking of workforce play out — which, to be clear, is not the view of Opening Bell Daily — Block and eBay will be first movers rather than anomalies.

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🏚Mortgage rates fell below 6% for the first time since 2022. The 30-year rate dipped below the key psychological threshold and it could boost home sales heading into the busy spring season. (Yahoo Finance)

🤖 Anthropic rejected the Pentagon’s “final offer.” CEO Dario Amodei on Thursday said negotiations have seen no progress, and the company remains unwilling to allow the government to use its AI tools for autonomous weapons or surveillance. (Axios)

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I sat down with Bloomberg Intelligence US equity strategist Michael Casper to unpack the best and worst stocks to buy for a new trade war, how to build a tariff-proof portfolio, the sectors to bet on next and an updated view on the Magnificent 7 and small-caps.

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🗓 February 27, 1933: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 50.16, marking a roughly 37% drawdown from its peak five months earlier. It went on to rally 66% in total that year.

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