What Happened?
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after investors wagered geopolitical tension would be contained following the U.S. military's operation in Venezuela, with the Dow hitting a fresh record.
Sentiment remained firmly "risk-on" for early 2026, with Wall Street prioritizing domestic economic strength over foreign turbulence. Analysts noted that while the event raises short-term supply questions, the market largely viewed the potential stabilization of Venezuela's vast oil reserves as a long-term economic positive.
Also, investor attention turned to the annual CES 2026 technology conference in Las Vegas, with artificial intelligence emerging as a central theme. Attention shifted to tech giants like Nvidia and AMD, whose CEOs were headlining the event. This focus continued the AI-fuelled momentum that drove market gains the previous year. The rally had global reach, with an MSCI Asia Pacific Index surge being driven by heavyweight chip names like Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. The event reinforced investor confidence in the long-term demand for the booming AI and chipmaking trend, boosting shares of companies across the semiconductor and technology space.
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:
- Advertising Software company LiveRamp (NYSE:RAMP) jumped 3.2%. Is now the time to buy LiveRamp? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
- Developer Operations company GitLab (NASDAQ:GTLB) jumped 3.5%. Is now the time to buy GitLab? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
- Advertising Software company PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM) jumped 2.4%. Is now the time to buy PubMatic? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
- HR Software company Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) jumped 3.2%. Is now the time to buy Paylocity? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
Zooming In On GitLab (GTLB)
GitLab’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 35 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 28 days ago when the stock gained 7.6% on the news that investors revisited the company's strong third-quarter earnings report and upgraded full-year guidance, which had initially been met with a sell-off.
The stock had previously plunged despite the company reporting solid results. For its fiscal third quarter, GitLab's revenue grew 25% year-over-year to $244.4 million. The company also raised its full-year forecast for both revenue and earnings per share. The initial negative reaction, which saw the stock fall sharply, appeared to stem from concerns about weakness in its segment serving smaller businesses.
Broader market worries that artificial intelligence features were not turning into revenue as quickly as hoped also weighed on the stock. The rebound suggested investors were looking past these issues and focusing on the strong performance and improved outlook.
GitLab is up 3% since the beginning of the year, but at $37.25 per share, it is still trading 49.1% below its 52-week high of $73.14 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of GitLab’s shares at the IPO in October 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $358.55.
While Wall Street chases Nvidia at all-time highs, an under-the-radar semiconductor supplier is dominating a critical AI component these giants can’t build without. Click here to access our full research report.