What’s Behind a String of Nasdaq Stock Collapses?

A troubling pattern is emerging among microcap companies taking a little-scrutinized route onto Nasdaq.

In several recent cases, shares have fallen more than 50% on their first day of trading, followed by declines of 90% or more in the weeks that followed, with retail investors bearing much of the loss.

So what’s going on?

According to independent investigative researcher Matthew Miller, changes intended to strengthen Nasdaq’s listing standards may have instead created a new route for risk to land on retail investors.

His investigation, The 2026 Direct-Listing Trap, is among the first to identify and document this as a repeating structural pattern, rather than a set of isolated bad debuts.

And he asks a bigger question: if this keeps happening, why haven’t Nasdaq or the SEC named the problem?

Read the full investigation on Financial Poise.

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Amazon Can Buy 3M Stock 📦

3M $MMM ( ▼ 1.66% ) expanded its partnership with Amazon $AMZN ( ▲ 4.98% ) on Monday, sending shares of the industrial giant up 5.43% in after-hours trading. Amazon ticked up 0.29%.

Details: Under the terms of the new partnership, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon now has the right to buy up to 3.1 million shares of 3M’s stock over the next seven years at $164.89 per share.

Eighty-five percent of the shares will vest subject to payments from Amazon for optical connectivity and other Data Center products. Full vesting will occur when cumulative payments reach $6 billion.

Background: The price represents a slight premium over 3M’s closing price on Monday of $162.01. The stock is up just 0.12% this year due to a weak consumer sector and macroeconomic friction.

Early Bird’s Nest Egg Gains: For shareholders, the deal looks positive for growth, but it is not a guaranteed $6 billion order.

The attractive part is the possibility of substantial product revenue tied to data-center expansion.

Final Thoughts: 3M reports its latest financial results this morning.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL), GE Aerospace (NYSE: GE), General Motors (NYSE: GM), Space Exploration Technologies (Nasdaq: SPCX), Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG), Capital One (NYSE: COF), RTX (NYSE: RTX), Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), Pegasystems (Nasdaq: PEGA), Chubb (NYSE: CB), Hasbro (Nasdaq: HAS), Alaska Air (NYSE: ALK), MSCI (NYSE: MSCI), 3M (NYSE: MMM), Vicor (Nasdaq: VICR), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), Ally Financial (NYSE: ALLY), Agree Realty (NYSE: ADC), Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY), Atlantic Union Bankshares (NYSE: AUB), Bank OZK (Nasdaq: OZK), East West Banc (Nasdaq: EWBC), Equifax (NYSE: EFX), Equity Lifestyle Properties (NYSE: ELS), Genuine Parts (NYSE: GPC), Hancock Whitney (Nasdaq: HWC), KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), Stride (NYSE: LRN), Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF), Valmont (NYSE: VMI), Weatherford (Nasdaq: WFRD).

Notable IPOs Today: Strive, Inc. 15% Series A Perpetual SATS Preferred Stock (Nasdaq: SATS).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: One Stop Halal (StartEngine), EVOQ Bio (StartEngine), Sepanta (Crowdcube).

Notable Economic Events Today: ADP Employment Change Weekly (8:15 a.m. ET), Housing Starts (8:30 a.m. ET), Building Permits (8:30 a.m. ET), Pending Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET), API Weekly Crude Oil Stock (4:30 p.m. ET).

Steel Dynamics' Bad Results

Photo by Morteza Mohammadi on Unsplash

Despite reporting record steel shipments of 3.8 million tons, Steel Dynamics $STLD ( ▲ 1.93% ) posted bad financial results on Monday and fell 4.64% in after-hours trading.

Financials: Steel Dynamics reported earnings of $5.26 per share in the past quarter and revenue of $6.5 billion. Both were lower than expected.

Final Thoughts: It’s a setback for the stock, which had been up 39% this year.

Bitdeer’s AI Cloud Revenue Backlog

The cryptocurrency mining and artificial intelligence cloud infrastructure company Bitdeer Technologies $BTDR ( ▼ 0.39% ) jumped 3.38% in after-hours trading on Monday after announcing that its AI cloud revenue backlog has now reached $2.9 billion.

Final Thoughts: This is great news for investors in Bitdeer. The stock had previously plunged 33% in 2026.