February 2026 Global Market News

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United States 🇺🇸

-Feb 6: Dow 50,000 became the headline—risk appetite snapped back hard-

U.S. equities surged as technology shares rebounded: the S&P 500 gained 2.0%, the Dow rose 1,206 points, or 2.5%, and briefly topped 50,000 for the first time, while the Nasdaq added 2.2%. The rebound showed how quickly risk appetite could re-engage once tech leadership stabilized.

-Feb 11: A stronger January payrolls print complicated the Fed-cut story-

The BLS reported nonfarm payrolls rose 130,000 in January and the unemployment rate held at 4.3%. Markets read the data two ways at once: resilient employment supported the growth narrative, but it also pushed yields higher and reinforced the case for the Fed to stay patient on cuts

-Feb 13: Inflation cooled year over year, but not enough to end the debate-

January CPI rose 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis and 2.4% over 12 months, while core CPI was up 2.5% year over year. That was softer than December’s headline pace, but still not clean enough for markets to declare victory on disinflation.

-Feb 18: Fed minutes kept the “higher for longer—or even two-sided” risk alive-

Minutes from the January 27–28 FOMC meeting showed some participants thought it could be appropriate to hold rates steady “for some time,” while several indicated they could support a two-sided description of future decisions if inflation stayed above target. February’s Fed story wasn’t a live rate move; it was the market absorbing how conditional any 2026 easing path really was.

-Feb 20 & Feb 23: Trade policy whiplash became the month’s macro swing factor-

On February 20, Wall Street rose after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s sweeping tariffs. But relief lasted only briefly: on February 23, stocks fell after Trump said he would impose temporary 15% tariffs, sending the S&P 500 down 1.0%, the Dow down 821 points, and the Nasdaq down 1.1%. February’s lesson was that tariff risk had shifted from a one-off headline shock into a recurring volatility regime.

-Feb 27: The month ended with AI fragility and inflation nerves still unresolved-

By month-end, the S&P 500 had fallen 0.4% on the day and finished just its second losing month in the last 10. A hotter January PPI print, ongoing concern about AI winners versus losers, and broader geopolitical stress all fed the late-month risk-off tone.

Hong Kong 🇭🇰

-Feb 2: RMB liquidity support was formally upgraded-

The HKMA’s expanded RMB Business Facility took effect at RMB 200 billion, double the prior size. More than just a policy headline, it strengthened the plumbing for offshore RMB funding and reinforced Hong Kong’s role as the global offshore RMB hub.

-Feb 4 & month-end: Trading activity showed Hong Kong’s market engine was alive-

HKEX said Hang Seng TECH Index Futures Options hit a record 208,378 contracts on February 4. By the end of February, market capitalisation stood at HK$49.9 trillion, average daily turnover for the month was HK$246.8 billion, and Hong Kong had recorded 24 new listings and HK$89.2 billion in IPO fundraising for the first two months of 2026. Even with turnover cooling from January, the broader message was that issuance and derivatives activity had meaningfully revived.

-Feb 20: HKMA’s own read on 2026 stayed constructive-

In the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee Currency Board Sub-Committee discussion released on February 20, the HKMA said Hong Kong’s economy had continued growing in Q4 2025 and projected moderate growth in 2026, supported by tech-product demand, improved business sentiment, and easier rates. That mattered because it framed the local recovery as being tied to regional trade and technology demand as much as to domestic momentum.

-Feb 25: The Budget doubled down on market infrastructure, RMB, and green finance-

The 2026–27 Budget said Hong Kong would continue issuing sustainable bonds and move forward with Hong Kong Sustainability Disclosure Standards. The government also highlighted RMB internationalisation, listing-rule consultations, T+1 settlement work, digital-asset licensing, an electronic bond-trading platform, and efforts to develop Hong Kong as an international gold trading market—effectively signaling that competitiveness would be built through market architecture as much as through capital access.

-Feb 27: Liquidity data were mixed, but the RMB franchise kept building-

HKMA monetary statistics for January showed total deposits dipped 0.1%, Hong Kong-dollar deposits rose 1.3%, RMB deposits increased 3.5% to RMB 993.9 billion, and total loans and advances rose 1.1%. So the snapshot was not a straight-line reflation story, but it did show RMB usage and credit activity remaining firm beneath uneven deposit flows.

Others

-Feb 2: Japan stayed a watchpoint, even without a fresh rate move-

The Bank of Japan’s February 2 Summary of Opinions said Japan’s economy had recovered moderately and that underlying CPI inflation was likely to continue rising moderately; one view also warned that yen depreciation could widen inequality by pressuring smaller firms. The release reinforced that Japan’s policy debate was still centered on wages, inflation, and the yen.

-Feb 3: The RBA broke the “everyone is easing” narrative-

Australia’s central bank raised the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85%, saying the underlying pulse of inflation was too strong and that it would take longer to return inflation to target. That single move mattered globally because it reminded markets that sticky domestic demand could still force tightening even this late in the cycle.

-Feb 5: The ECB stayed on hold-

The ECB kept its key rates unchanged, leaving the deposit facility at 2.00%, the main refinancing rate at 2.15%, and the marginal lending facility at 2.40%. The message was classic data dependence: inflation was expected to stabilize at target in the medium term, but trade-policy uncertainty and geopolitics kept the outlook cloudy.

-Feb 5: The Bank of England held, but the split mattered-

The BoE maintained Bank Rate at 3.75%, but only by a 5–4 vote, with four members preferring a 25 bp cut to 3.5%. That made February’s UK takeaway less about the hold itself and more about how close the committee was to resuming easing.

-Feb 18: The RBNZ held at 2.25% and leaned recovery-friendly-

New Zealand’s central bank kept the OCR at 2.25%, said inflation was expected to move back toward the 2% midpoint over the next 12 months, and noted it had already cut rates nine times since August 2024. In global terms, that put New Zealand closer to the “pause after easing” camp, in sharp contrast to Australia’s February hike.