Morning Brew February 24 2026

Good morning

Wall Street stocks tumbled on Monday, as ongoing fears of artificial intelligence-related disruption and the fallout from Friday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling sent investors fleeing from high-risk equities. The Dow fell 1.66%, the S&P 500 dropped 1.04%, and the Nasdaq declined 1.13%.

Software and payments stocks sank on AI displacement concerns, with AmEx falling 7.2% and ServiceNow dropping 3.33%. IBM plunged 13.1% after Anthropic launched an AI tool to modernize COBOL code. Bloomberg reports PayPal may be a takeover candidate, which sent shares higher by nearly 6%. Tesla fell below 400. FedEx (FDX) is one of the first to file suit for a refund of the “emergency” tariffs, with claims potentially totaling $175 billion across all companies (not just FedEx).

Novo Nordisk suffered a blow yesterday as trial data showed CagriSema is less effective than Zepbound, and Zepbound was better than even some of Lilly's own data had indicated. This caused Novo's shares to fall 16%, while Lilly jumped 5%.

Japan's Nikkei share average rose as trading resumed after a long holiday weekend, with AI-related stocks rallying. The German Index continues to hover around 25,000.

US 10-year yields continue to trade within their wedge, having found support at the lower band again. The USD index is at 97.80, EURUSD is 1.1780, GBPUSD is 1.3485, and USDJPY is 155. Precious metals remain strong at 5,175 and 88. Crypto fails to find a positive impulse; Bitcoin is at 63,000 and ETH at 1,817.

The EU has paused trade talks with the US and will maintain the current deal for now, as the new global 15% tax takes effect. President Trump warned that any attempts to play games would lead to higher tariffs.

At airports in the New York City area, 89% to 98% of flights were canceled due to snow and storms.

Donald Trump will deliver the traditional State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday at a fraught moment for his presidency, with his approval ratings slumping, anxieties rising over Iran, and Americans struggling with the cost of living.

China has prohibited the export of dual-use items to 20 Japanese entities that it says supply Japan's military, the commerce ministry announced.

Economic data and earnings are likely to take a back seat today as geopolitical news and developments remain center stage. The next big event is likely to be the Nvidia earnings release tomorrow after the close.

Strong articles from our global team are:

From GPUs to HALO: earnings week for Nvidia, software, and Berkshire | Saxo Bank Switzerland

NVDA earnings and the post-print volatility crash - an options case study | Saxo Bank Switzerland

Remain on your toes

February 24, 2026

• Economic Indicators:
• China (Mainland): Loan Prime Rate 1Y (3.00%), Loan Prime Rate 5Y (3.50%)
• France: Business Climate Overall (99)
• Hungary: Hungary Base Rate (6.50%)
• United States: Consumer Confidence (84.5)
• Earnings Releases:
• Before Open: Home Depot, DigitalOcean
• After Close: AMC Entertainment, Mercado Libre
• Trump delivers state of the Union address, Golsbee, Bostic and Collins,

February 25, 2026

• Economic Indicators:
• Japan: Service PPI (2.60%)
• Australia: CPI MM (1.00%)
• Euro Zone: HICP Final MM (0.2%), HICP Final YY (1.7%)
• Earnings Releases:
• Before Open: Hut 8 Mining, TJX Companies
• After Close: Nvidia, Salesforce Snowflake, Paramount Skydance,
• Barkin, Musalek

February 26, 2026

• Economic Indicators:
• Japan: Leading Indicator Revised (0.3)
• Euro Zone: Consumer Confidence Final (-12.2)
• Canada: Business Barometer (59.47)
• United States: Initial Jobless Claims (206k)
• Earnings Releases:
• Before Open: Vistra Energy, ACM Research
• After Close: Celsius Holdings, Dell Technologies

February 27, 2026

• Economic Indicators:
• Japan: CPI, Overall Tokyo (1.5%)
• Denmark: Unemployment Rate (2.6%)
• France: GDP QQ Final, CPI (EU Norm) Prelim YY, Unemployment Class-A SA
• Switzerland: KOF Indicator (102.5), Official Reserves Assets CHF (852,606.51M)
• Germany: Unemployment Rate SA (6.3%), CPI Prelim YY (2.1%)
• Canada: GDP Annualized (2.6%), GDP (0.0%)
• Earnings Releases:
• Before Open: D-Wave Quantum, Energy Fuels
• After Close: 1stdibs.com, Endeavour Silver

March 1, 2026

• Economic Indicators:
• Australia: S&P Global Manufacturing PMI Final (51.5)