Today is Wednesday, March 4, 2026.

The Early Bird Index today is 75.15.

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Despite posting strong financial results on Tuesday, the cybersecurity technology company CrowdStrike $CRWD ( ▲ 1.71% ) fell 0.16% in after-hours trading.

Financials: CrowdStrike reported earnings of $1.12 per share in the past quarter and revenue of $1.31 billion. Both were better than expected.

Powering the Story: The company bragged about its success on Tuesday, with its CEO and CFO using the word “record” six times in their earnings quotes to describe the quarter’s results.

Early Bird’s Nest Egg Gains: Expectations and valuation were extremely high, and anything short of “spectacular” upside on growth and guidance is being treated as a let‑down for CrowdStrike.

Final Thoughts: The stock hasn’t moved much in the past 12 months.

AI stocks. Metals. Crypto.

Surprise, surprise; gold crashed 16%. Silver plunged 34%. Bitcoin dropped to 1 year lows.

All supposedly "uncorrelated" assets moving in lockstep largely because of overleveraged margin.

JPM strategists warn that the same leverage is still a risk.

Those markets may be recovering now, but cascading liquidations could trigger quickly across several asset classes simultaneously.

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Notable Earnings Today: Broadcom (Nasdaq: AVGO), Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), Dycom (NYSE: DY), Okta (Nasdaq: OKTA), Firefly Aerospace (Nasdaq: FLY), Wix.com (Nasdaq: WIX), Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV), StubHub Holdings (NYSE: STUB), Webull Corporation (Nasdaq: BULL), American Eagle (NYSE: AEO), Rigetti Computing (Nasdaq: RGTI), Stevanato Group (NYSE: STVN), National Vision (Nasdaq: EYE), Cracker Barrel (Nasdaq: CBRL), BillionToOne (Nasdaq: BLLN), Brown-Forman (NYSE: BF.B), European Wax Center (Nasdaq: EWCZ), EyePoint (Nasdaq: EYPT), Genius Sports (NYSE: GENI), Grocery Outlet (Nasdaq: GO), Holley (NYSE: HLLY), Niagen Bioscience (Nasdaq: NAG), Ooma (NYSE: OOMA), Riskified (NYSE: RSKD), SmartRent (NYSE: SMRT), Stem (NYSE: STEM).

Notable IPOs Today: GalaxyEdge Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: GLED), Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. VI (NYSE: KCAC).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: PittMoss (Wefunder), Catalyst Hot Dogs (Honeycomb), Kicker’s Saddle Jerky (Honeycomb), Whizz Education (Crowdcube).

Notable Economic Events Today: ADP Nonfarm Employment Change (8:15 a.m. ET), S&P Global Services PMI (9:45 a.m. ET), S&P Global Composite PMI (9:45 a.m. ET), ISM Non-Manufacturing Prices / PMI / Employment (10:00 a.m. ET), Crude Oil Inventories (10:30 a.m. ET), Beige Book (2:00 p.m. ET).

Ross Stores $ROST ( ▼ 2.3% ) jumped 6.34% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after reporting good financial earnings results.

Financials: Ross Stores reported earnings of $2 per share in the past quarter and revenue of $6.63 billion. Both were better than expected.

Powering the Story: Comparable store sales surged 9% in the past quarter. Ross Stores projects comparable store sales to grow 7% to 8% in the current quarter.

Final Thoughts: The stock was already up 8% this year.

While most cryptocurrency prices stayed flat on Tuesday, Cardano $ADA ( ▲ 2.82% ) fell about 4%.

Details: Even though there are upcoming March catalysts (Protocol V11 hard fork, Midnight privacy sidechain, USDCx launch), traders are staying away from riskier assets right now, such as Cardano.

Final Thoughts: Cardano is down about 20% this year.

Headwinds: GitLab Forecasts Slower Sales Ahead, CEO Shares Plans to Boost Growth (Wall Street Journal)

New Target Era: Target to Spend Billions to Refresh Stores, and Hire More Workers (New York Times)

Closed: Iran has largely halted oil and gas exports through strait of Hormuz (The Guardian)

Junkie: Paramount’s Debt Downgraded to Junk Following Warner Bros. Purchase Deal (Bloomberg)

Some Progress: Bitcoin rebounds toward $70,000 as ETFs pull in $1.45 billion in five days (CoinDesk)

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_{The contents of Early Bird are intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. They do not constitute trade or investment recommendations, and they are not financial or legal advice. Readers are encouraged to consult licensed professionals for personalized guidance regarding their financial or legal situations.}