Daily Dispatch: US court ruling on Donald Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs boost markets
Monday, 23 February 2026
Market Summary
The sentiment on US markets greatly improved on Friday after most of US President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs were invalidated by the US Supreme Court.
After that ruling ‒ and before Trump vowed to take revenge and ordered a 15% global tariff ‒ markets gained due to the tariff turnaround. The S&P 500 gained 0.69%, the Nasdaq rose 0.9% and Dow Jones advanced 0.47%.
That was despite disappointing economic data earlier in the day. US GDP for the fourth quarter grew by just 1.4%, much lower than anticipated, and personal consumption expenditure ‒ the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge ‒ showed core inflation flat at 3%.
European markets were also buoyed by the tariff decision, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 ending the session 0.8% higher and almost all sectors and regions gaining as Friday went on.
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In Asia, markets closed prior to the tariff decision and were weighed down by the prospects of a war in Iran. South Korea’s Kospi was one of the outliers, gaining 2.31% as chip and defence stocks rose. India’s Nifty 50 also gained 0.46%.
Otherwise, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.12% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.98%, while mainland China’s markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Back here, large stocks on the S&P/NZX50 were responsible for dragging the index down by 1.01% on Friday. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell by 0.74%, Infratil was down 2.17% and Ebos fell 4.1% ahead of its interim result out this week.
Market news in the day was mixed ‒ Fonterra lifted its forecast Farmgate Milk Price for the 2025/26 season to a midpoint of $9.50 from $9, as well as saying it intended to pay out 100% of underlying earnings generated by Mainland Group during FY26 while it remained under Fonterra ownership by way of a special dividend of 14cps-18cps.
Vector reported its half-year result, which saw net profit down 4% to $113 million, while revenue growth came in at 14%, all of which was “in line with expectations”, the company said.
Other main decliners on the main board included Savor Group, down 6.67%, Move Logistics fell 6%, Blis Technologies fell 5.56% and ArborGen was down 4.35%.
Gainers on the main board were mainly small cap, including Accordant Group, which gained 10.34% on a moderate amount of trade this month in the stock. Ventia Services advanced 6.95% on positive results in the week, Scott Technology rose 6.83%, New Talisman Gold Mines was up 5.88% and AoFrio gained 4.65%.
In Sydney the S&P/ASX 200 slipped back 0.05%. Bottom performing stocks in the day were Mexican fast food company Guzman y Gomez, which dropped 13.94% after what Murdoch papers were calling an “utter horror show” for the company in its US expansion. Cloud connectivity provider Megaport fell 11.79% after its interim report showed it had made a $3.3m loss, as opposed to the small profit it made in the prior comparative period.
While we slept
US tech giants have made moves to deepen ties with India’s tech industry, committing billions of dollars to Indian AI as New Delhi pushes for a superpower status. At last week’s India AI Impact Summit ‒ a major tech event that draws a host of prominent tech and world leaders to New Delhi ‒ Microsoft said it was on pace to invest US$50 billion in AI in the Global South by the end of the decade, OpenAI and chipmaker AMD announced partnerships with Tata Group to build AI capabilities, and Blackstone said it had participated in a US$600m equity raise for Indian AI infrastructure Neysa. Indian companies Reliance also announced plans to invest US$110b into data centres and other infrastructure, and Adani revealed plans to build a US$100b AI data centre over the next decade.
Berkshire Hathaway was a net seller of stocks in Warren Buffett’s final quarter as chief executive, according to CNBC. The company sold more equities than it bought, and continued to divest its Apple, Bank of America stakes, and Amazon.com stakes. In the three months ending December 31, it significantly increased its holdings in Chevron and Chubb, and added new shares of The New York Times.
What’s up today
In today’s The Post, the outlook for businesses is murky after tariff ruling prompts countermoves by Trump. Blayne Slabbert reports the Reserve Bank governor urges the country ‘to look to Canterbury’ and Aimee Shaw profiles leakproof bottle brand Mode & Opal in this week’s The Small Business Project series.
A handful of publicly listed companies will release their half-year financial results today, including Tourism Holdings, Chorus, Genesis, Comvita and Mighty Ape owner Kogan.com.