By Niket Nishant and Tom Westbrook LONDON/SINGAPORE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Global shares edged higher on Friday, brushing aside heightened tensions over a potential conflict between the United States and
US Markets Rise as Supreme Court Overturns Trump Tariffs
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Feb 20 (Reuters) - 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.
Market Reactions to Supreme Court Decision
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.
Economic Implications of Tariff Reversal
"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% levy.
GDP and Inflation Insights
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 rose 230.81 points, or 0.47%, to 49,625.97, the S&P 500 rose 47.62 points, or 0.69%, to 6,909.51 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 203.34 points, or 0.90%, 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%, to 1,052.94.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.84%, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 20.96 points, or 0.84%.
Emerging market stocks rose 5.04 points, or 0.32%, to 1,568.38. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed higher by 0.18%, to 802.69, while Japan's Nikkei fell 642.13 points, or 1.12%, to 56,825.70.
Gold Prices and Market Dynamics
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% to $5,095.19 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 1.91% to $5,071.00 an ounce.
Treasury Yields and Currency Movements
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%, from 4.075% late on Thursday.
The 30-year bond yield rose 2 basis points to 4.7244% from 4.704% 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%, 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, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.14% to 97.75, with the euro up 0.11% at $1.1785.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.04% to 155.03.
Cryptocurrency and Energy Market Trends
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin gained 1.16% to $67,690.43. Ethereum rose 1.09% 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% to settle at $66.39 per barrel, while Brent settled at $71.76 per barrel, up 0.14% on the day.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Niket Nishant in London and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Nia Williams and Diane Craft)
