Private-credit ‘cockroaches’ and the AI ‘scare trade’ hammered stocks in February. Here’s what else has investors shaken up.

Stocks were caught up Friday in a whirlwind of market-moving headlines, making for a wild final trading day in a rough month for U.S. equities.

The penultimate day of February saw President Trump

signal that the U.S. military remains ready to strike Iran. There also were more problems on the inflation and private-credit fronts, with shares of financial stocks — banks and asset managers alike — selling off hard.