New York, Feb 21, 2026, 15:07 ET — Markets wrapped up trading for the day.
Goldman Sachs (GS) wrapped up Friday at $922.24, tacking on $5.59, or 0.6%. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) picked up 0.9%. Morgan Stanley (MS) advanced 0.6% as well, with all three heading into the weekend after another round of trade-policy headlines.
The next session is crucial for Goldman; the stock often tracks swings in risk appetite and shifts in rate expectations. When Washington rewrites the playbook and the bond market jolts, both of those drivers can flip fast.
This matters for Goldman, whose fortunes are hitched to market moves—trading volume, new debt and stock deals, M&A pipelines. If clients step back, fees take a dip; a bout of volatility, though, and the firm’s desks snap back into action.
Stocks in the U.S. finished Friday on a higher note, following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn President Donald Trump’s global tariffs. For investors, that was enough to dial back some of the recent uncertainty, if only temporarily. “Today is a removal of some uncertainty,” said Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments. (Reuters)
Treasury yields ticked higher, with investors weighing the ruling and sifting through mixed economic signals. The Commerce Department’s advance reading put fourth-quarter growth at an annualized 1.4%. Meanwhile, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve’s go-to inflation measure, showed price growth picking up in December, according to Reuters. (Reuters)
Setting tariffs aside, investors have their eyes on Wall Street’s private credit ambitions — a space Goldman has been expanding into. Private credit, which involves lending by non-banks to borrowers often considered higher risk, has come under the microscope after turbulence hit some alternative asset managers. Big banks aren’t sitting out: JPMorgan has committed $50 billion to the sector, and Goldman has launched a new division, according to Reuters. (Reuters)
Goldman leaned on its standard funding sources before the weekend, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The firm issued $12 million in fixed-rate notes maturing in 2031 with a 4.30% coupon, and put out a separate $500,000 in callable fixed-rate notes due 2036 paying 5.125%. (SEC)
Trade policy has seized the spotlight again. Trump announced Saturday he’ll hike a temporary global tariff to 15%—the Section 122 cap—following the Supreme Court’s rejection of his previous initiative. Reuters notes Congress would need to sign off to keep those tariffs in place beyond 150 days. Wendy Cutler, who previously held a top U.S. trade post and is now with the Asia Society, called Trump’s quick pivot “underscored the uncertainty” facing U.S. trading partners. (Reuters)
Goldman faces the possibility that this episode escalates into drawn-out court battles, pushes back against the firm, or drags further on dealmaking—choking off flows to its underwriting and M&A desks. On top of that, if inflation proves tougher to tame, rate expectations get messier, bond markets stay twitchy, and figuring out where bank profits might land becomes trickier for investors.
Once trading resumes, attention turns to Tuesday’s State of the Union and Nvidia’s fiscal Q4 earnings, due Wednesday, Feb. 25—two events seen as key to gauging risk appetite with the AI trade front and center, according to Reuters. “It’s hard for Nvidia to surprise when everyone expects it to surprise,” said Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at Empower. (Reuters)
