New York, Feb 15, 2026, 13:36 EST — The market has closed.
- Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB) climbed 0.9% Friday, picking up after a softer U.S. inflation reading.
- Copper prices held firm, though exchange stockpiles have jumped noticeably.
- Steel and aluminum stocks dropped, pressured by ongoing tariff uncertainty. Up ahead: U.S. data and Fed minutes.
Basic materials names in the U.S. finished Friday with gains, as the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB) added 0.91% to end at $53.31. As the sector moves forward, it’s macro data and metals prices calling the shots.
The calendar complicates things. With U.S. stock and bond markets closed Monday for Presidents’ Day, traders are stuck digesting Friday’s inflation shock—and fresh chatter about tariffs—all through the long weekend and into a tight trading week.
Materials stocks often move alongside the dollar and bond yields, since key raw materials like copper and chemicals trade in dollars worldwide. A jump in rate-cut expectations usually lifts metals, while shifts in trade policy can quickly send steel and aluminum tumbling.
U.S. consumer prices ticked up 0.2% in January, with core CPI—stripping out food and energy—advancing 0.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday. Year-on-year, core inflation dropped to 2.5%, marking the slowest pace since nearly five years ago. “Price pressures remain a little too hot for comfort,” said Edward Jones senior economist James McCann, though he noted the “direction of travel is lower.” Reuters
Copper kept moving. U.S. copper futures finished Friday at $5.8030 per pound, a 0.30% rise for the session.
Still, the surge in copper prices faces a less-noticed counterpoint: mounting stockpiles. Total exchange inventories just topped 1.1 million metric tons—levels last seen in early 2003—Reuters columnist Andy Home pointed out. He suggests these rising exchange stocks present a much more “prosaic” story than what those record prices imply. Reuters
Miners were out in front among single stocks. Freeport-McMoRan picked up 1.29% to finish at $62.84 on Friday. Newmont, the gold producer, surged 6.50%, ending at $125.80.
Steel and aluminum stocks sank following a last-minute tariff scare. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro dismissed talk that the administration might impose a blanket 25% tariff on both metals, telling Reuters there was “no basis” for the reports. Nucor dipped nearly 3%, Steel Dynamics dropped 3.9%, and Century Aluminum plunged 7.4%. “With the three-day weekend approaching, it’s not surprising to see the market sort of roll over,” Rosenblatt Securities trader Michael James told Reuters. Reuters
The S&P 500 Materials index finished up 1.10% at 669.59 by the close.
XLB hovered close to the high side of its 52-week band — that’s $36.56 at the low, $54.14 at the top — with close to 20 million shares changing hands Friday. According to State Street, the ETF follows the Materials Select Sector Index, covering chemicals, metals and mining, paper and forest products, packaging, and construction materials.
Materials bulls face a clear risk: the straightforward trade — think cooling inflation, yields dropping, metals rallying — could unravel in a hurry. A rapid buildup in copper inventories or any flare-up in inflation that delays rate cuts, and suddenly the sector flips from a magnet for cash to a place investors pull money from. Steel and aluminum prices can also get knocked around by tariff news without much notice.
Traders now have their eyes on a packed slate of U.S. data kicking off Tuesday, when markets reopen: January retail sales and the Empire State manufacturing survey are up first. The Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes land Wednesday, with U.S. GDP numbers wrapping up the week on Friday.
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