New York, February 23, 2026, 14:35 ET — Regular session
- The S&P 500 slipped roughly 1.1% in afternoon trading, with tariff jitters resurfacing. Gold and volatility both pushed higher.
- Factory orders slipped 0.7% in December, while the Chicago Fed’s activity gauge moved back into positive territory in January.
- This week, traders are watching for new inflation and confidence numbers, and bracing for a wave of major earnings—Nvidia sits at the top of that list.
Stocks in the U.S. slipped Monday, the S&P 500 losing roughly 1.1%. The Dow shed about 1.6% by the afternoon. Over in ETFs, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust dropped 1.1% to $681.87. Gold, meanwhile, pushed up 2.2%, and a short-term volatility product jumped almost 3%.
Investors scrambled to adjust after the Supreme Court wiped out President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs on Friday, triggering a sharp selloff. Trump responded fast, rolling out a sweeping new tariff plan: 10% on all imports at first, with a bump to 15%. The market’s left in limbo—nobody knows yet when the new rules kick in, who gets exempted, or how much extra inflation they’ll spark.
The stakes are high right now, with traders caught between a packed data schedule and every Fed comment shifting the market’s view on rates. “It looks like a resumption of the AI disruption selloff,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. Tariff news sent risk appetite on a wild ride, making things even choppier. Reuters
Factory orders in the U.S. slid 0.7% in December, landing at $617.5 billion, according to the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau. Shipments, meanwhile, ticked up 0.5%. Inventories barely budged, rising just 0.1%.
January’s Chicago Fed National Activity Index came in at 0.18, up from December’s -0.21, data from the St. Louis Fed’s FRED database show. A reading above zero points to growth above the long-term trend.
The Dallas Fed’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey came in steady, not sizzling. The general business activity index ticked up to 0.2 from -1.2. Production didn’t budge, holding at 12.5, according to the bank.
Treasury yields slipped, with traders eyeing tariff adjustments and the chance that refund lawsuits might push up government borrowing. The 10-year benchmark hovered near 4.07%. ING analysts flagged that “the risk of escalation is now higher” as trade-policy frictions made a comeback. Reuters
Stock moves were mixed. Domino’s Pizza jumped 3.9% to $399.70 after topping U.S. same-store sales forecasts, thanks to value offers. CEO Russell Weiner said the company is targeting more U.S. pizza market share.
PayPal surged 5.6% to $44.00 after Bloomberg flagged takeover interest, Reuters said. Eli Lilly advanced 4.2% to $1,051.50, boosted by weaker-than-expected results from Novo Nordisk’s obesity-drug study. That sent Novo’s U.S. shares tumbling 16.4%.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller signaled he’s open to keeping rates unchanged in March, provided February’s jobs data builds on January’s gains. He flagged the March 6 payrolls release as the crucial checkpoint before the March 17–18 policy decision.
The tape’s chasing a moving target here. Tariff carve-outs, shifting start dates, or another round of retaliation—any of it could force investors to rapidly rethink both earnings projections and inflation calls. And if refunding and deficit worries start looking like actual funding problems, it’s tough to bet on bond market stability.
Coming Tuesday, investors will get a look at Case-Shiller and FHFA home-price numbers at 9 a.m. ET. Consumer confidence and the Richmond Fed factory index both cross the wires an hour later, at 10 a.m. ET. Eyes also turn to Friday’s PPI, which drops at 8:30 a.m. ET.
