New York, Feb 14, 2026, 18:09 EST — Closing bell’s rung. Market shut.
- Danaher shares slipped again, closing out the week with losses after falling for two straight sessions.
- U.S. markets are set to open again Tuesday, following the Presidents Day holiday closure.
- Traders are watching for the Fed minutes and major U.S. data, both potential catalysts to shake up rate expectations.
Danaher Corp dropped 1.1% to close at $212.58 on Friday, chalking up a second day in the red, even as the S&P 500 and Dow posted modest gains. The stock remains roughly 12% under its Jan. 22, 52-week high. Thermo Fisher declined as well; Abbott moved up, while Medtronic slipped. (MarketWatch)
This comes just before a shortened week—U.S. stock and bond markets are shuttered Monday for Presidents Day, with trading picking back up Tuesday, Feb. 17. (Morningstar)
Risk appetite has wavered. The S&P 500 closed out Friday with a modest gain following softer U.S. inflation numbers, yet the major indexes just logged their sharpest weekly drop since November. Investors continue to juggle changing rate-cut expectations and another slide in tech stocks. (Reuters)
Danaher shares picked up speed to the downside a day early, tumbling 2.3% on Thursday as U.S. stocks turned lower and the stock’s four-day rally ended. Trading activity outpaced the 50-day average, according to MarketWatch data. (MarketWatch)
Danaher shares saw brisk action Friday, with roughly 5.29 million traded as prices bounced from $210.79 up to $218.75, historical data show. (Investing.com)
Wall Street enters the week still searching for what’s going to move the needle. “It’s all this whack-a-mole game of trying to figure out what AI is going to destroy next,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth, speaking to Reuters in a Week Ahead column on Friday. (Reuters)
The Federal Reserve will release minutes from its Jan. 27-28 meeting this Wednesday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. ET, according to the central bank’s calendar. (Federal Reserve)
The calendar gets busier two days on. The Bureau of Economic Analysis is set to drop its advance fourth-quarter GDP read and the Personal Income and Outlays report—including the PCE price index—Friday, Feb. 20 at 8:30 a.m. ET. Later that morning, at 10 a.m. ET, the University of Michigan’s final February consumer sentiment number is expected. (Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Danaher shareholders are watching to see if management’s upbeat late-January signals on demand can withstand the latest macro swings buffeting the market. CEO Rainer Blair had described a “strong finish to the year with better-than-expected performance across our portfolio,” highlighting gains in bioprocessing and a rebound in diagnostics and life sciences. (Reuters)
Danaher is pointing to a rebound in its end markets for 2026. The company, in its earnings report, projected low-single-digit growth for first-quarter “core revenue”—which excludes effects from currency, acquisitions, and divestitures—and laid out expectations for full-year core revenue growth between 3% and 6%. (Danaher Corporation Investors)
Still, there’s a lot that could trip things up here. A pullback in research budgets would slam lab tools and diagnostics stocks. Renewed weakness out of China? That’s another headwind. And if rate expectations tilt back toward “higher for longer,” higher-multiple names in healthcare and tools typically take the brunt.
Danaher and the broader sector are bracing for midweek catalysts: first up, the Fed minutes dropping Feb. 18. That’s just before the Feb. 20 wave of growth and PCE inflation data hits — numbers with enough heft to jolt the rate narrative. (Bureau of Economic Analysis)
