Markets News, Feb. 23, 2026: U.S. Indexes End Lower Amid Tariff Uncertainty, AI Disruption; Dow Sheds 800 Points

Major stock indexes closed sharply lower Monday after President Donald Trump said over the weekend that he was raising global tariffs following a Supreme Court ruling against a majority of his “reciprocal” duties.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, tech-heavy Nasdaq, and benchmark S&P 500 ended down 1.7%, 1.1%, and 1%, respectively. The Dow shed more than 820 points. The indexes all closed higher last week, with the Nasdaq snapping a five-week skid.

On Friday, after the Supreme Court struck down the majority of his tariffs announced last April, Trump announced a 10% global hike, then upped it to 15% a day later. The new duties do not rely on powers granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which the court ruled did not allow the president to impose tariffs.

The news has injected fresh uncertainty into the outlook for global trade. _Bloomberg _on Monday reported that the European Union was “poised to freeze the ratification process of its trade deal with the US and is seeking more details from President Donald Trump’s administration on its new tariff program.”

Bitcoin late Monday traded near the day’s low at around $64,700. The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on a variety of consumer loans including mortgages, dropped below 4.03% from 4.09% at Friday’s close.

Meanwhile, safe-haven gold futures advanced nearly 3% to $5,225 an ounce, while silver futures jumped 6% to $87.40 an ounce. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, were 0.4% lower at $66.20 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of currencies, was 0.2% lower at 97.65.

“From a market-behavior perspective, declining policy predictability is compressing risk tolerance in cross-border capital allocation,” Bitunix Exchange analyst Dean Chen said. “Funds are tilting toward short-duration liquidity instruments and defensive assets, with risk-asset absorption contingent on whether clearer institutional signals emerge.”

Shares of all the Magnificent Seven tech giants were down except for Nvidia (NVDA), which reports its highly anticipated earnings Wednesday, and Apple (AAPL). Their shares ended up 1% and 0.6%, respectively

IBM (IBM) shares sank 13% on worries advances in Anthropic’s AI technology could affect its business. Software stocks Datadog (DDOG), CrowdStrike (CRWD), and AppLovin (APP) sank 11%, 10%, and 9%, respectively, amid AI fears.

U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk (NVO) sank 16% to their lowest level in nearly five years after the Danish firm’s CagriSema obesity treatment delivered less weight loss than that of Eli Lilly’s (LLY) Zepbound. Eli Lilly stock gained nearly 5%.

Netflix (NFLX) shares fell more than 3%. President Trump called for the streaming giant to remove former Obama and Biden aide Susan Rice from its board. Netflix is attempting to acquire in-demand Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) assets.

Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) stock rose 4% after the pizza-delivery company reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and same-store sales. Dominion Energy (D) shares slipped 2.6% after its results before the bell.

Shares of major U.S. carriers Delta Air Lines (DAL), United Airlines (UAL), and American Airlines (AAL) declined between 3.8% and 5.2% after a blizzard slammed the Northeast, causing thousands of flights to be canceled.