New York, Feb 21, 2026, 11:25 EST — The market has closed.
Alphabet Inc’s Class C shares (GOOG) wrapped up Friday’s session at $314.90, gaining 3.7%. The stock moved within a $304.95 to $316.68 range, finishing the day with a market capitalization near $2.94 trillion.
Tech stocks snapped higher, dragging the broader market along, after the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out President Donald Trump’s global tariffs. The S&P 500 rose 0.69%, while the Nasdaq added 0.90%. Trump blasted the decision, calling it a “disgrace” and vowing to slap a 10% global tariff for 150 days using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. “Today is a removal of some uncertainty, and we’re on to the next phase,” said Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments. (Reuters)
For Alphabet, it’s a big deal—ads are still its main money-maker. Marketing budgets are often the first to get squeezed when trade jitters flare, but on Friday, investors saw the court’s move as a rare reduction in risk.
Google is ramping up its bid to push its AI chip business, aiming to boost demand for its tensor processing units, or TPUs. As part of the strategy, it’s backing data-center partners and reportedly in talks to invest about $100 million in Fluidstack, a cloud startup that would be valued near $7.5 billion, according to a report picked up by Investing.com. The company says it has no intention to restructure the TPU division. (Investing.com)
Alphabet told analysts earlier this month that capital spending could hit $175 billion to $185 billion in 2026—a sharp climb from $91.45 billion planned for 2025—as the company gears up for more servers, data centers, and network gear. “We are seeing our AI investments and infrastructure drive revenue and growth across the board,” Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said on the earnings call. Google Cloud pulled in $17.7 billion for the December quarter, up 48%. That’s “importantly higher growth than Microsoft Azure for the first time in several years,” D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria noted. (Reuters)
The TPU push lines up with that jump in spending. Selling more of its own chips via Google Cloud would give Alphabet fresh control over both supply and cost—especially as competitors continue snapping up Nvidia GPUs.
Alphabet’s Class C shares trade under GOOG; these come without voting rights. GOOGL, on the other hand, covers the company’s voting Class A stock. Both tickers usually track together—they reflect the same underlying business.
Still, what happened Friday wasn’t about fundamentals. Trade policy could flip on a dime, and tech stocks have taken a hit before when the returns on AI spending seem too far off.
Markets are closed for now, but when trading picks up in New York on Monday, all eyes will be on GOOG to see if it can keep its footing above $300. Traders are also bracing to see if the coming batch of data nudges the rate outlook in a new direction.
Nvidia’s earnings drop on Feb. 25, and traders have that date marked. The stock often drags the rest of big tech along, especially with AI in the spotlight. (marketwatch.com)
