US stocks weekly: Ricochet

Omnicom

20/02/2026 21:46

** S&P 500 .SPX snaps two-week losing streak, rallies 1.1% amid a wave of economic data .N

** Dow .DJI inches up 0.3%, while Nasdaq Composite .IXIC bounces 1.5% after five straight weeks of declines

** Mega-caps have been stumbling so far this year, while the equal-weighted S&P 500 has been rumbling; though Mag 7 MAGS.Z stocks and SPX suddenly outperform for the week

** This as S&P 500's 100-DMA, once again, stems the decline

** U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield US10YT=RR finishes up around 4.09% for its first advance in three weeks US/

** Most sectors carom: Communication Services leads rebound, while Consumer Staples regress

** Communication Services .SPLRCL surges 2.3%. Ad giant Omnicom OMC.N soars 21% on qtrly rev beat on boost from IPG acquisition, new clients

** Consumer Discretionary .SPLRCD up 1.7%. Norwegian Cruise Line NCLH.N accelerates as activist Elliott builds over 10% stake and pushes for changes

Retailers including Amazon.com AMZN.O jump on Fri after Supreme Court rules against Trump's global tariffs; however, some surrender gains by session's end

In contrast, Genuine Parts GPC.N tumbles as downbeat annual profit outlook overshadows news of plans to split into two companies. GPC suffers 20% weekly loss

** Industrials .SPLRCI gain 1.7%. Though airline shares take a dive on Thurs as oil prices climb on US-Iran fears. ARCA Airlines Index .XAL loses ~1%

** Financials .SPSY firm 1.5%. But private equity firms Blackstone BX.N, Apollo APO.N and Ares ARES.N fall after Blue Owl Capital OWL.N permanently halts redemptions from a retail-focused private credit fund

For the week, S&P 500 banks index .SPXBK up >2%, KBW regional banking index .KRX adds 0.7%

** Tech .SPLRCT pops 1.5%. Nvidia NVDA.O rises after multi-year AI chip deal with Meta Platforms META.O

Semiconductor index .SOX up 1.5%

** Energy .SPNY up 0.5%. Oil companies rise as Russia-Ukraine talks end abruptly, and oil prices rise as Trump puts time limit on Iran stand-off O/R

Energy sector running hot, maybe too hot?

** Consumer Staples .SPLRCS sag 2.3%. Walmart WMT.O shares fluctuate, then finish down on Thurs after softer-than-expected annual forecast. WMT retreats 8% on the week

General Mills GIS.N falls after Cheerios maker cuts annual sales and profit forecasts

** Meanwhile, individual investor neutral sentiment snaps back

** SPX performance YTD:

Energy
22.0%
Materials
16.2%
Industrials
14.1%
Staples
12.9%
Real Estate
8.4%
Utils
8.2%
Healthcare
1.1%
SPX
0.9%
Comm Svcs
-0.2%
Discretionary
-3.4%
Tech
-3.5%
Financials
-4.5%

(Lance Tupper and Terence Gabriel are Reuters market analysts. The views expressed are their own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com ; terence.gabriel@tr.com))