Market Brief – 18 Feb 2026

In today’s episode of Market Brief – After Hours, US markets advance as technology leadership returns despite renewed Federal Reserve uncertainty and rising geopolitical tension. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq outperform on fresh AI-driven momentum while the Dow posts more modest gains amid sector rotation.European equities rally sharply on cooling inflation data, boosting expectations of Bank of England and ECB rate cuts. We cover strength across the STOXX 600, FTSE 100, DAX, CAC 40 and FTSE MIB, alongside mixed signals from Asia during the Lunar New Year period.Oil surges on escalating US-Iran rhetoric while Gold and Silver rebound strongly. The episode includes detailed Forex technical analysis across EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CAD and USD/JPY, highlighting key moving averages defining the current trend structure. Major stock movers include Nvidia, Amazon, Global Payments, Caesars Entertainment and weakness in cybersecurity names. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.