New York, Feb 20, 2026, 14:27 EST — Regular session
Goldman Sachs shares were up 0.2% at $918.83 in afternoon trade on Friday, after moving between $900.78 and $921.28 as macro headlines pushed traders back and forth. JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley also edged higher, while financial-sector ETFs traded modestly firmer.
For Goldman, the near-term tug is familiar: rates and risk appetite set the tone for trading desks, while a steadier market underpins dealmaking. Friday brought both — a hotter inflation read and a fresh burst of mandates tied to private equity exits and buyouts.
That mix matters now because investors are trying to pin down whether the Federal Reserve can ease policy this year without inflation flaring again. Goldman’s earnings power leans heavily on markets activity and fees, so the path for rates and the willingness of clients to transact still shows up quickly in the stock.
Underlying U.S. inflation rose more than expected in December, with the core PCE index — the Fed’s preferred gauge that strips out food and energy — up 0.4% on the month and 3.0% year-on-year, Reuters reported. Barclays economist Pooja Sriram pointed to a sharp jump in legal services prices, while the report flagged next Friday’s producer price data and a March 13 release for January PCE as the next checkpoints for markets. (Reuters)
Separate data showed U.S. growth slowed to a 1.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter, with federal government spending posting its biggest decline since 1972 because of last year’s shutdown, Reuters reported. “The core of the economy is resilient,” Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, said in the report, adding the Fed looked set to stay on hold. (Reuters)
The policy backdrop got messier after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s tariffs, a pillar of his trade agenda, prompting an early surge in risk assets. “While the initial reaction is up, the confusion it’s going to lead to is probably going to keep this market going back and forth,” said Rick Meckler, a partner at Cherry Lane Investments. (Reuters)
On the corporate side, Goldman landed on a new dual-track process that could feed its advisory pipeline. Bain Capital is exploring a sale or IPO of Dessert Holdings that could value the company at more than $3 billion, and has hired Goldman Sachs and Bank of America to run the process, sources told Reuters. (Reuters)
In Japan, a Goldman Sachs-backed fund raised its bid for digital printing firm Raksul by 11% to 1,900 yen a share and extended the tender period to March 9 after investor criticism, Reuters reported. “This is our best and final offer,” said Yu Itoki, a managing director who heads Goldman’s Japan growth and corporate equity teams. (Reuters)
Goldman also surfaced in a deal tied to the buildout of AI infrastructure. A $300 million loan to cloud startup Crusoe from Goldman Sachs will be backed by chips and related equipment, Reuters reported, citing The Information; AMD is set to provide a guarantee that helped Crusoe lock in a rate of around 6%. (Reuters)
On the funding side, a prospectus supplement dated Feb. 20 showed Goldman marketing fixed-rate notes due 2031 that pay 4.30% annually, part of the bank’s routine capital markets activity. (SEC)
Competition is heating up in private credit as traditional lenders try to take share from alternative asset managers. Bank of America is committing $25 billion to private credit deals, according to a memo seen by Reuters, and the report noted Goldman has created a new division as part of its push into the market, where loans often sit outside the traditional syndicated model. (Reuters)
But the same forces that helped lift banks on strong days can bite fast. If inflation stays sticky and pushes rate-cut hopes further out, trading gains can fade and deal timetables can slip, especially if volatility returns and credit spreads widen.
Next week’s key market test comes Wednesday, when Nvidia reports results — a read-through on risk appetite that has been driving big swings across sectors since the start of 2026 — with investors also parsing a fresh run of software earnings and Tuesday’s State of the Union address. (Reuters)
