US stocks have been flat for 3 months. Weekly market recap, trading week 08/2026

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GLOBAL MARKETS INVESTOR’S PORTFOLIO IS 🔥UP +95%🔥 SINCE JANUARY 2024

DURING THE MARCH-APRIL 2025 MARKET TURMOIL, MAJOR US INDEXES FELL NEARLY 20%, WHILE THE GMI PORTFOLIO GAINED OVER 5%, FIND OUT HOW BELOW:

In this series, you can find financial markets posts with the highest number of interactions from my X platform feed over the most recent week. I am aware that not everybody uses X regularly, so I thought it could provide some value to your analysis, and investment process. These posts are surrounded by extra charts, commentary and explanations of complicated topics.

US stocks rebounded somewhat this week but has traded within the same range for 3 months now.

Gold and silver rallied despite the rising US Dollar.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court has struck down Trump's tariffs in a landmark 6-3 ruling.

The Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.

"Had Congress intended to convey the distinct and extraordinary power to impose tariffs, it would have done so expressly," the Court wrote.

This invalidates roughly half of all tariffs imposed under Trump, including "reciprocal" tariffs on nearly every trade partner and tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico over fentanyl trafficking.

The ruling marks the first time in nearly 50 years since IEEPA's enactment that a President has attempted to use the statute to impose tariffs.

Critically, the Court did NOT address whether the government must issue refunds for tariffs already collected, leaving $150+ billion in potential refund claims unresolved.

However, this is not the end of the tariffs.

Sectoral tariffs on steel and aluminum remain unaffected, and the administration can pursue alternative legal frameworks, including Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, which permits temporary 15% tariffs for 150 days.

President Trump says he has a “backup plan” for tariffs after the ruling, and he is moving in a different direction. On Friday, he announced a new 10% global tariff on all countries under Section 122, “over and above’’ existing tariffs for a period of about 5 months. Subsequently, on Saturday, President Trump said he is increasing global tariffs to 15%, effective immediately.

In summary, before the IEEPA tariffs were struck down, consumers faced an overall average effective tariff rate of 16%, the highest since 1936. Immediately following the IEEPA ruling, the rate fell to 9.1%. After the 15% Section 122 tariffs were imposed, the rate rose to its current level of 13.7%. If those tariffs expire in 150 days, the rate will fall again to 9.1%.

Meanwhile, India has postponed a trip to the US aimed at finalizing their interim trade deal in order to assess the implications of the ruling.

India had earlier reached an interim framework with Trump that cut tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 25%.

The visit will be rescheduled once both countries have evaluated the tariff developments and their implications.

US trade policy remains in uncharted territory.

In case you missed it, other posts from this week are listed below.

1) Weekly performance. In the first post attached, you can see last week’s performance of the major US indexes, the VIX volatility index, 10-year Treasury yield, the US Dollar, gold, silver, WTI Crude oil and Bitcoin.

- S&P 500 +1.0%
- Nasdaq +1.4%
- Russell 2000 (small caps) +0.6%
- Dow Jones +0.2%
- US 10-year Treasury yield +2 basis points
- Bank Index +1.5%
- VIX -7.5%, front month contract VIX futures -4%
- US Dollar index +0.9%
- Gold +1.2%
- Silver +7.8%
- WTI Crude Oil +5.6%

- Bitcoin -3.1%

For the trading week ending February 26, key events are:

- US Consumer Confidence for February on Tuesday

- NVIDIA 4th Quarter FY26 Financial Results On Thursday After The Market Close

- US PPI Inflation data for January on Friday

- At least 10 Fed Speakers

- ~3% of S&P 500 companies report earnings

All eyes on NVIDIA earnings.

2) Global equities 'sell signal' was triggered for the 8th month straight. BofA Bull & Bear index is also screaming ‘sell’.

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