US stocks end higher, Treasury yields gain after Supreme Court strikes down Trump tariffs
Traders work on the floor, as screens display U.S. President Donald Trump during a press briefing at the White House following the Supreme Court's ruling on tariffs, at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
NEW YORK, Feb 20 : U.S. stocks advanced on Friday and Treasury yields rose as investors absorbed a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down President Trump's tariffs, while also parsing a weak GDP report and higher-than-expected inflation data.
All three major U.S. stock indexes moved higher immediately following the Supreme Court's decision. All three indexes posted gains on the week.
Europe's STOXX 600 closed at an all-time high following the ruling while gold prices continued to advance.
The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling struck down Trump's sweeping tariffs enacted under a law meant for use in national emergencies, and has widespread implications for the global economy.
"There's a belief that tariffs have actually hurt the economy, and maybe we see that in these weak GDP numbers that we got earlier today," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York.
"Striking down of these tariffs will benefit corporate bottom lines, corporate earnings," Ghriskey said, adding that the decision "has ramifications across the economic spectrum but there's got to be a lot of disruption, and we’ll have to see the reaction from the White House."
Trump angrily responded to the court's ruling that he did not have the power to unilaterally set tariffs on imports, vowing a new 10 per cent levy.
Before Wall Street's opening bell, the Commerce Department released its advance take on fourth-quarter GDP, which showed the U.S. economy grew at a sharply decelerated 1.4 per cent on a quarterly annualized basis in the last months of 2025.
Its separate Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the inflation gauge favored by the U.S. Federal Reserve, revealed price growth heated up in December.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 230.81 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 49,625.97, the S&P 500 rose 47.62 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 6,909.51 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 203.34 points, or 0.90 per cent, to 22,886.07.
European stocks reached a new record high after the Supreme Court ruling and marked their biggest weekly jump since early January.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 5.73 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 1,052.94.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.84 per cent, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 20.96 points, or 0.84 per cent.
Emerging market stocks rose 5.04 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 1,568.38. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed higher by 0.18 per cent, to 802.69, while Japan's Nikkei fell 642.13 points, or 1.12 per cent, to 56,825.70.
GOLD DEMAND PERSISTS
Gold prices advanced as investors digested the soft GDP report and Trump's announcement of fresh tariffs following the Supreme Court ruling. Rising U.S.-Iran tensions also supported demand for the safe-haven metal.
Spot gold rose 1.92 per cent to $5,095.19 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 1.91 per cent to $5,071.00 an ounce.
U.S. Treasury yields rose following the Supreme Court's ruling. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 0.8 basis points to 4.083 per cent, from 4.075 per cent late on Thursday.
The 30-year bond yield rose 2 basis points to 4.7244 per cent from 4.704 per cent late on Thursday.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose 1 basis point to 3.48 per cent, from 3.47 per cent late on Thursday.
The dollar turned lower after the top U.S. court's tariff decision, but was still on track for its biggest weekly gain since October.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.14 per cent to 97.75, with the euro up 0.11 per cent at $1.1785.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.04 per cent to 155.03.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin gained 1.16 per cent to $67,690.43. Ethereum rose 1.09 per cent to $1,969.21.
Crude prices stabilized as markets expected U.S. military action against Iran would not happen until next week, but remained poised to notch weekly gains.
U.S. crude fell 0.06 per cent to settle at $66.39 per barrel, while Brent settled at $71.76 per barrel, up 0.14 per cent on the day.
