Stock Market Update
February 20, 2026
UPGRADES
The Supreme Court struck down most of Trump’s sweeping tariff policy under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, with the majority ruling that that law “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.” In response, Trump announced he will impose a new 10% “global tariff.”
“Now I’m going to go in a different direction, probably the direction that I should have gone the first time,” the president said during a press briefing at the White House after the high court’s decision. “I’ll go the way I could have gone originally, which is even stronger than our original choice.”
Shares of “Magnificent Seven” member Amazon — a company that sources up to 70% of its goods from China, per Wedbush Securities, and that has already begun to see tariffs impact the price of certain items — jumped 2% following the ruling. Others believed to benefit from the outcome were higher as well, such as Home Depot and Five Below
DOWNGRADES
U.S. growth slowed more than expected near the end of 2025 as the government shutdown impacted spending and investment, while a key inflation metric showed high prices are still a factor for the economy, according to data released Friday.
Gross domestic product rose at an annualized rate of just 1.4%, according to the Commerce Department, well below the Dow Jones estimate for a 2.5% gain.
Consumer spending increased at a slower pace for the period while government spending tumbled sharply in a quarter marked by the record-length shutdown.
The department estimated that the
shutdown subtracted about 1 percentage point from growth, though it added that the exact impacts “cannot be quantified.”
For the full year in 2025, the U.S. economy grew at a 2.2% pace, down from the 2.8% increase in 2024.
NEWS
President Donald Trump said Friday he will sign an executive order imposing a new 10% “global tariff,” hours after the Supreme Court struck down his sweeping “reciprocal” import duties in a major rebuke of his trade agenda.
The new “Section 122” tariffs will come on top of the existing levies that remain intact following the high court’s decision, Trump said as he raged at the “deeply disappointing” ruling during a White House press briefing.
“I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” Trump said.
The court’s ruling invalidated the legal underpinning of many of the tariffs that Trump insists are essential for the U.S. economy and for rebuilding America’s shrinking manufacturing base.
Trump was adamant that he will find other ways to impose tariffs without Congress.