US, European Stocks Rise, Treasury Yields Gain after Supreme Court Strikes down Trump Tariffs

Reuters

1:41 JST, February 21, 2026

NEW YORK, Feb 20 (Reuters) – U.S. and European 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. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are on track to notch weekly gains, while the blue-chip Dow is currently flat versus last Friday’s close.

Europe’s STOXX 600 index extended gains following the ruling while gold prices came off the day’s highs in the immediate aftermath.

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. “And tariffs play right into that, hurting the U.S. especially in global trade.”

“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.”

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% 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 .DJI rose 122.76 points, or 0.25%, to 49,517.92, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 41.24 points, or 0.60%, at 6,902.84 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 234.12 points, or 1.03%, to 22,915.65.

European stocks jumped on the heels of the Supreme Court ruling, and remained on course for weekly gains on an improving corporate earnings outlook, while geopolitical turmoil remained on investors’ radar.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS rose 5.06 points, or 0.48%, to 1,052.27.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX advanced 0.78%, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 rose 19.55 points, or 0.78%.

The emerging market stocks index .MSCIEF added 3.41 points, or 0.22%, to 1,566.75. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed higher by 0.17%, at 802.57, while Japan’s Nikkei .N225 fell 642.13 points, or 1.12%, to 56,825.70.

SAFE-HAVEN DEMAND FOR GOLD PERSISTS

Gold prices jumped as the soft GDP report offset hot inflation data, but pared those gains slightly after the tariff ruling. Even so, rising U.S.-Iran tensions continued to support demand for the safe-haven metal.

Spot gold XAU= was up 0.78% at $5,037.73 an ounce. U.S. gold futures GCc1 advanced 1.6% to $5,055.50 an ounce.

U.S. Treasury yields rose following the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR added 1.9 basis points to 4.094%, from 4.075% late on Thursday.

The 30-year bond US30YT=RR yield rose 3.1 basis points to 4.7352% from 4.704% late on Thursday.

The two-year note US2YT=RR yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose 0.8 basis points to 3.478%, from 3.47% 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 =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.15% to 97.74, with the euro EUR= up 0.1% at $1.1784.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin BTC= gained 0.65% to $67,349.65. Ethereum ETH= rose 0.38% to $1,955.40.

Crude prices eased but were poised to log a weekly gain on rising tensions between the United States and Iran.

U.S. crude CLc1 fell 0.33% to $66.21 a barrel and Brent LCOc1 fell to $71.36 per barrel, down 0.42% on the day.