Sydney, Feb 15, 2026, 17:28 (AEDT) — The market has wrapped up for the day.
Shares of Macquarie Group (MQG.AX) slipped on Friday, casting a shadow ahead of Monday’s open.
The stock slipped 0.91% to finish at A$216.17, bouncing between A$215.50 and A$218.14 during the session. 1
Australian shares stumbled heading into the weekend. The S&P/ASX 200 dropped 125 points, or 1.4%, to finish at 8,917 on Friday, according to the ABC. 2
Across global markets, the so-called “AI scare trade” is shaking things up, with investors offloading stocks seen as vulnerable to artificial intelligence. Barclays equity strategist Emmanuel Cau called it a “‘sell first think later’” atmosphere, as the question on everyone’s mind became “who is next”. 3
Macquarie slipped for a second day, giving up 0.98% on Thursday after reaching A$221.18, then shedding another 0.91% Friday as roughly 762,000 shares changed hands, according to Investing.com data. 4
Shares eased after Macquarie’s Feb. 10 operational update, where CEO Shemara Wikramanayake described December’s trading as “satisfactory.” The company reported A$736.1 billion in assets under management at Dec. 31. Its private credit portfolio, tied to balance-sheet lending, came in at A$28.9 billion. 5
Morningstar’s Nathan Zaia called the rise in asset management and capital markets earnings “encouraging” in a note Friday, but he left his A$205 fair value estimate for Macquarie unchanged. 6
No fresh updates from Macquarie hit the ASX on Sunday, so when trading kicks off, the stock will be moving in step with the wider market. 7
Tuesday brings the next local catalyst. The Reserve Bank of Australia will release minutes from its February policy meeting on Feb. 17 at 11:30 a.m. AEDT, an event closely watched for shifts in rate expectations and bank valuations. 8
Still, offshore sentiment could flip the script this week. Should AI-fueled selling return and liquidity dry up, risk-heavy financials may take another hit—regardless of whether there’s any new company news.
