Editor’s Note
U.S. and European markets closed broadly higher on Friday, with tech stocks leading the gains. The Nasdaq outperformed, rising 0.9%.
On Friday, February 20, European and US stock markets closed higher across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.47%, the S&P 500 Index gained 0.69%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.9%.
Most large-cap US tech stocks advanced. The NYSE FANG+ Index, tracking seven major US tech giants, rose 1.57%, with Google surging over 4%. On the news front, on February 19 local time, Google released its latest large-scale foundational model, Gemini 3.1 Pro. Compared to the Gemini 3 Pro released last November, the new model’s reasoning performance has doubled directly. Nvidia and Amazon also rose over 2%, while Apple, Intel, and Meta gained over 1%.
Most chip stocks rose. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained 1.07%, with Lam Research surging over 3%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) rising nearly 3%, Micron Technology up over 2%, and Qualcomm gaining nearly 1%. However, Super Micro Computer fell over 1%, Intel dropped nearly 1%, and ARM declined over 1%.
The drone concept sector weakened. Ondas fell nearly 12%, Knightscope security robots dropped over 9%, and AeroVironment declined over 6%.
Cybersecurity stocks plummeted. SailPoint plunged 9.4%, Okta fell 9.18%, Cloudflare dropped 8%, and the Global X Cybersecurity ETF closed down 4.9%, hitting a new closing low since 2023.
Chinese concept stocks showed mixed performance. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index fell 0.05%, Shiji Huitong dropped nearly 5%, Alibaba declined nearly 2%, Baidu China fell nearly 2%, Xiaopeng Motors dropped over 1%, while NIO surged over 3% and iQIYI rose nearly 3%.
In the commodities market, precious metals surged. Spot gold rose 2.2% to $2,111.125 per ounce, accumulating a weekly gain of 1.32%; COMEX gold futures rose 2.51%. Spot silver soared 7.96% to $24.625 per ounce, with a weekly surge of 9.46%; COMEX silver futures jumped 8.61%.
Oil prices spiked overnight. At the close, the main US WTI crude oil contract fell 0.14% to $66.31 per barrel; the main Brent crude oil contract dropped 0.1% to $71.2 per barrel. Both WTI and Brent crude posted weekly cumulative gains of over 5%. According to CCTV News, on February 20 local time, the Iranian Oil Minister stated that cooperation between Iran and the US on oil is not impossible.
The cryptocurrency market was active. Bitcoin rose 1.76% to $67,940, and Ethereum gained 1.55%. In the past 24 hours, 79,357 people globally were liquidated, with total liquidation amounts reaching $1.82 billion.
On the geopolitical front, tensions in the Middle East intensified again. According to Xinhua News Agency, US President Donald Trump confirmed to the media on the 20th that he is considering “preliminary limited military strikes” against Iran to pressure Iran into accepting US demands regarding the nuclear agreement. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on the 20th during an interview with US media that Iran will complete the drafting work of the nuclear agreement proposal within 2 to 3 days and submit it to the US after obtaining final approval from Iranian leaders.
According to CCTV’s Global Times channel, on February 20 local time, Germany, the UK, Sweden, and other countries urged their citizens in Iran to evacuate as soon as possible. The previous day, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk issued a similar warning.
According to CCTV’s Global Times channel, US President Donald Trump stated at an impromptu White House press conference on February 20 local time that he will sign an executive order imposing a 10% tariff on all global imported goods, to replace the large-scale tariffs previously levied based on the US “International Emergency Economic Powers Act,” which were ruled illegal by the US federal Supreme Court. When asked by a reporter on-site whether the approximately $175 billion in tariff revenue previously collected would be refunded, Trump said:
The prospect of a Federal Reserve rate cut also drew market attention on the evening of February 20. According to CCTV News, the latest data released by the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showed that the US core PCE price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 3.0% year-on-year in December, up 0.4% month-on-month, both higher than expected. US real GDP grew 2.2% year-on-year in 2025, lower than the 2.8% in 2024. Traders currently believe the Fed will wait until July this year to cut rates.
According to Caixin, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller indicated that if inflation trends “in the wrong direction” and starts to rise, the Fed will have no choice but to put rate hike options back on the table.
