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. (Reuters)
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. (ABC News)
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”. (Reuters)
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. (Investing)
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. (Macquarie)
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. (Morningstar)
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. (Australian Securities Exchange)
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. (Reserve Bank of Australia)
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.
