Stock Market News for Feb 20, 2026

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stock markets closed lower on Thursday reversing most of the gains of the previous day. Market participants expressed concerns over private credit providers and heightened geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran. Investors also weighed a series of mixed economic data.

All three major stock indexes ended in negative territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) tumbled 0.5% or 267.50 points to close at 49,395.16. Notably, 12 components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory while 18 ended in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 22,682.73, sliding 0.3% owing to the weak performance by software bigwigs. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% to finish at 6,861.89. However, seven out of 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index ended in the positive territory, while four ended in the negative zone.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) and the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) rose 1.9% and 1%, respectively. On the other hand, the utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) fell 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively. The fear gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 3.1% to 20.23.

A total of 16.4 billion shares were traded on Thursday, lower than the last 20-session average of 20.5 billion. The S&P 500 reported 27 new 52-week highs and six new 52-week lows. The Nasdaq Composite registered 62 new 52-week highs and 146 new 52-week lows. Private market and alternative assets manager Blue Owl Capital Inc.

OWL sold $1.4 billion in loan assets. Consequently, the company has tightened investor liquidity in its retail-focused Blue Owl Capital Corporation II Fund and permanently halted private credit fund redemptions. Following the challenges surrounding liquidity and transparency in private credit markets, investors sold shares of these companies.

Consequently, the stock prices of Blue Owl Capital, Blackstone Inc. BX and Apollo Global Management Inc. APO tumbled 5.9%, 5.3% and 5.2%, respectively. Both Blackstone and Apollo Global currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here .

The geopolitical conflict between the United States and Iran intensified following disagreement about Iran’s nuclear program. President Donald Trump has indicated that he will make a decision on a military strike in Iran in the next 10 days. As a result, crude oil prices rose around 2%.

The Department of Labor reported that initial claims decreased by 23,000 to 206,000 for the week ended Feb. 14, lower than the consensus estimate of 221,000. The previous week’s data was revised marginally upward to 229,000 from 227,000 reported earlier. Continuing claims (those who have already received government aids and reported a week behind) increased 17,000 to 1.869 million for the week ended Feb 7.

The previous week's level was revised downward by 10,000 to 1,852,000 from 1,862,000 reported earlier. The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the trade (goods and services) deficit jumped to $70.3 billion in December, significantly higher than the consensus estimate of $58.4 billion.

The metric for November was revised downward to $53 billion from $56.8 billion reported earlier. The Philadelphia Fed Index came in at 16.3, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 10 and January’s metric of 12.6. The National Association of REALTORS reported that pending home sales in January decreased by 0.8% from the prior month and 0.4% year-over-year.

For the week ended Feb.13, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) decreased by 9.0 million barrels from the previous week. Leading Indicat…