Wall Street News Breakfast FM-Radio | February 19, 2026

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Huajian Morning Voice

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Market Overview

Tech stocks supported a two-day winning streak for US stocks. The Fed meeting minutes revealed significant disagreement, with some officials hinting at possible rate hikes. US stocks pulled back significantly from their daily highs during the session, and US treasuries fell.

The Dow briefly plunged. Nvidia rose 1.6%. Amazon, which was increased by Bill Ackman’s fund, rose nearly 2%. The chip index closed up nearly 1%. Micron, heavily increased by the Appaloosa hedge fund, gained over 5%. The pan-European stock index rose for three consecutive days, hitting a record high, while UK stocks also hit new highs.

US-Iran tensions boosted a sharp rebound in crude oil. Oil closed up over 4%, marking the largest gain in nearly four months. US crude oil once surged over 5%, and Brent closed above $70 for the first time this month.

After the Fed minutes, US treasury yields accelerated their rise. The dollar index hit a one-week high, the yen fell more than 1%, the pound hit a three-week low, and Bitcoin fell below $66,000, hitting the daily low and dropping about 4% from the day's high.

Gold and silver rebounded, with gold up nearly 3% intraday and silver up 6.5%. After the Fed minutes, gains narrowed, and gold fell below $5,000.

Top News

Fed meeting minutes revealed significant disagreement: some officials support further rate cuts, while others hint at possible rate hikes.

Lagarde may step down early: Power transition at the ECB enters countdown.

The "Sell America" thesis does not hold for now. Last year, foreign investors net bought $1.55 trillion in long-term US financial assets, though December US treasury holdings decreased.

US December core capital goods orders exceeded expectations; January industrial output had the largest increase in nearly a year.

US oil soared 5%! The US and Israel may jointly strike Iran; the White House says negotiations have made progress but remain far apart on key issues.

Tesla’s first Cybercab rolls off the line: the car with no steering wheel or pedals is finally here.

Google released the Pixel 10a ahead of the Apple iPhone 17e; limited upgrades, still priced at $499.

Duan Yongping tests "AI trading": selling Apple and adding Nvidia, and newly entering CoreWeave, Credo, and Tempus.

Bassent and Walsh's "mentor", Druckenmiller, "precisely" opened positions in financial stock ETFs, equal-weighted S&P ETFs, and Brazil ETFs in Q4.

Wall Street tycoon Tepper bets on storage: Micron holdings surged 200%, newly bought Korean ETF.

Market Close Report

US and European Stock Markets: S&P 500 up 0.56% to 6,881.31 points. Dow up 0.26% to 49,662.66 points. Nasdaq up 0.78% to 22,753.635 points. Europe’s STOXX 600 up 1.19% to 628.69, hitting a new all-time high.

A-shares closed for the holiday.

Bond Market: US 10-year treasury yield up 2.50 basis points, hitting an intraday high of 4.0865%. The two-year treasury yield up 2.91 basis points to 3.4616%.

Commodities: Spot gold up 2.08% to $4,979.56/oz. Spot silver up 5.04% to $77.2335/oz. Brent April crude oil futures up 4.35% to $70.35/barrel.

News Details

Global Headlines

Fed meeting minutes revealed significant disagreement: some officials support further rate cuts, some hint at possible hikes. Several attendees supported the "two-way" expression in rate guidance, noting that if inflation stays high, a hike may be appropriate; others saw a further rate cut as fitting if inflation falls as expected. Most warned that inflation could ease more slowly and unevenly than expected. The vast majority believe the downside risk in jobs has eased in recent months, but the risk of persistent inflation remains. Some discussed AI-related vulnerabilities, like high market valuations and market cap concentration in a few companies; others noted vulnerabilities in private credit.

Publicly countering Waller, multiple Fed officials say: AI-driven productivity improvement could mean a “higher neutral rate”. The space for Fed rate cuts this year may narrow further; futures markets now expect the first cut only in the second half of the year.

Lagarde may step down early: ECB power transition enters countdown. This would impact the continuity of eurozone monetary policy and allow for a cushion during the handover. But the ECB responded that Lagarde remains fully committed to her mission and hasn’t made any decision on ending her term early.

"Sell America" thesis does not hold: foreign investors net bought $1.55 trillion in US long-term financial assets last year. In 2025, foreign investors net bought $1.55 trillion of long-term US financial assets, up from $1.18 trillion the prior year. In December, foreign-held US treasuries decreased by $88.4 billion, to $9.27 trillion, the lowest since October; Japanese holdings fell $17.2 billion to $1.19 trillion; UK holdings fell $23 billion to $866 billion; mainland China holdings fell $400 million.

US December core capital goods orders beat expectations, January industrial output saw the largest gain in nearly a year. US “core capital goods orders” (excluding commercial aircraft and military equipment) rose 0.6% in December, above the forecast of 0.3%. All durable goods orders fell 1.4%, mainly due to fewer aircraft orders but still better than expected. Growth was broad-based, led again by categories closely linked to AI development. US January industrial production saw the largest increase in nearly a year, driven by gains in utilities and manufacturing output.

US oil soared 5%! US and Israel may jointly strike Iran, White House says talks have progressed but key issues remain far apart. On Wednesday, it was reported that the US and Israel may launch a joint attack on Iran. The White House said talks with Iran have made progress but are still wide apart on key issues. US officials say the US military should finish its Middle East deployment by mid-March. Israeli officials say the timeline for US strikes on Iran is “shortening.” Iran is expected to table more detailed proposals in the coming weeks; Trump will continue to evaluate negotiations. WTI oil’s intraday gain once hit 5%, at $65.38 per barrel.

Tesla’s first Cybercab rolls off the line: the car with no steering wheel or pedals is finally here. The model is built for Tesla’s fledgling autonomous taxi business. Unlike the current 2025 Model Y, the Cybercab was designed from scratch for full self-driving and has no manual driving controls.

Google released the Pixel 10a ahead of the iPhone 17e; limited upgrades, still priced $499. Google released the entry-level Pixel 10a at $499, adding AI camera features, satellite emergency communication, and cross-platform file sharing, but hardware changes were minor: it kept last-gen chip and main camera and dropped MagSafe wireless charging. The phone launched ahead of Apple’s expected iPhone 17e release; analysts say Google aims to win the budget segment with pricing.

13F

Duan Yongping tests “AI trading”: selling Apple, adding Nvidia, and newly entering CoreWeave, Credo, and Tempus. CoreWeave builds high-performance GPU clusters and rents compute power to AI firms and enterprise clients; if GPUs are the heart, Credo’s high-speed interconnect chips and optical modules are the blood vessels, closely tied to AI server upgrades; Tempus focuses on applying AI to precision medicine, especially oncology.

Bassent and Walsh's “mentor”, Druckenmiller, opened positions in financial stock ETFs, equal-weighted S&P ETFs, and Brazil ETFs in Q4. In tech stocks, Druckenmiller cleared out of Meta, added to Google and Sea. His mentoring relationship with Bassent and Walsh made the market speculate that “Druckenmiller economics”—anti-deficit, anti-inflation, anti-tariff—could filter into policymaking via his mentees.

Wall Street tycoon Tepper bets on storage: Micron holdings jumped 200%, new position in Korean ETF. Last quarter, hedge fund giant Tepper accurately targeted the AI memory chip track, betting over $600 million on Micron and a Korean chip ETF, gaining about 30% so far this year. Global memory shortages plus AI compute power demand make his chip bets soar as software stocks tumble.

Selected Reports

JPMorgan trading desk: “Sell first, ask later” AI selloff in US stocks is about to end; time to bottom-fish software stocks. The team is taking a contrarian approach to software stocks hit unduly hard and buying “AI-disruption-immune” assets for the coming rebound.

Behind $1 trillion evaporation: The moat of vertical software is being rewritten by large models. LLMs are systematically dismantling the moats that vertical software used to survive on; the days of high markups via “hard to use” software and “complex processes” are over. The market is undergoing a harsh revaluation.

Global Macro

NY Fed research shows tariffs burden US firms and consumers; Hassett slams: Embarrassing, those responsible should be punished. New York Fed research last week found that nearly 90% of the economic burden of 2025 tariffs will be borne by US firms and consumers. NEC Director Hassett said Wednesday this research was “embarrassing” and those involved should be “reprimanded.”

National Stock Exchange of India: Cancels margin calls on gold and silver futures contracts. NSE Clearing announced to cancel additional margin for all gold and silver futures: From February 19, 2026, the additional 3% margin for gold futures (all types) and 7% for silver futures (all types) will be canceled.

Overseas Companies

Fei-Fei Li’s AI startup World Labs raises $1 billion, with Nvidia and AMD among investors. AI trailblazer Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs completed a new $1B funding round, led by Autodesk with $200 million and joined by Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, AMD, and others. Media previously reported the company was seeking funds at a $5 billion valuation, but the current round’s valuation wasn’t disclosed.

Today’s Agenda Preview

China’s January Swift RMB share in global payments.

US December trade balance.

US initial jobless claims last week.

Korean prosecutors ask for the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk-yeol; verdict on Feb 19.

Speeches by Atlanta Fed President Bostic, Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari, Chicago Fed President Goolsbee.

BHP, Glencore, Rio Tinto, Walmart release earnings.

Risk Warning and DisclaimerThe market carries risks; investments require caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not account for individual user’s unique investment goals, financial situation, or needs. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article fit their specific situation. Investing accordingly is at your own risk. ```