What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after markets faded the Nvidia rally in the morning session, as investors remained uncertain about future rate cuts. 

While the trading day began with significant enthusiasm, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 700 points and the Nasdaq Composite up 2.6%, momentum quickly evaporated as the session wore on. The primary catalyst for this sharp reversal was a stronger-than-expected jobs report, which reduced the implied odds of a December interest rate cut to less than 40%. This macroeconomic anxiety overshadowed stellar corporate performance. Nvidia initially surged 5% on blockbuster earnings and CEO Jensen Huang's bullish outlook on "off the charts" demand for Blackwell chips. However, the stock eventually turned negative, acting as a heavy weight that dragged the broader indices into the red. The sell-off partly reflects a deepening caution regarding high-flying tech valuations in a "higher-for-longer" rate environment. 

Consequently, investors appeared to rotate capital away from volatile growth sectors and toward defensive staples, evidenced by Walmart's 6% gain following its own earnings beat. Ultimately, the market could not sustain the morning's euphoria, as traders prioritized rate realities over AI potential.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Gig Economy company Uber (NYSE: UBER) fell 6.3%. Is now the time to buy Uber? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Gig Economy company Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) fell 6.1%. Is now the time to buy Lyft? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Gig Economy company Upwork (NASDAQ: UPWK) fell 6.5%. Is now the time to buy Upwork? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Gig Economy company DoorDash (NASDAQ: DASH) fell 6.2%. Is now the time to buy DoorDash? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.

Zooming In On Upwork (UPWK)

Upwork’s shares are very volatile and have had 23 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 1 day ago when the stock gained 7.1% on the news that the company outlined an optimistic long-term growth strategy at its Investor Day, a view supported by positive analyst commentary. At the event, Upwork detailed a multi-year plan focused on making its marketplace AI-native and expanding its enterprise services with a new subsidiary called Lifted. Management provided strong financial targets, forecasting revenue to grow at a compound annual rate of 13% to 15% through 2028. The company also noted that improvements in AI were expected to add over $100 million in gross services volume in 2025. Following the presentation, analysts from both Needham and Citizens reiterated their positive ratings on the stock. Citizens specifically cited growth drivers like AI platform improvements and enterprise expansion through the company's new offering.

Upwork is up 4.2% since the beginning of the year, but at $17.11 per share, it is still trading 14.8% below its 52-week high of $20.07 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Upwork’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $481.42.

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