World shares mostly advance and Japan falls ahead of Lunar New Year
holidays
[February 16, 2026] By
CHAN HO-HIM
HONG KONG (AP) — World shares mostly advanced on Monday and gold
declined. Japanese stocks dipped and several stock markets in Asia were
closed or trading for a half-day ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations.
In early European trading, Germany’s DAX was up 0.2% to 24,958.01.
Britain’s FTSE gained 0.3% to 10,479.47, while the CAC 40 in Paris also
rose 0.3% to 8,333.81.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.2% to 56,806.41, after the
government reported that Japan’s economy grew more slowly than
economists had expected in the latest October-December quarter, at an
annualized 0.2%.
The sluggish rate of growth increases the likelihood that Japanese Prime
Minister Sanae Takaichi will press ahead with plans to revive the
economy by raising government spending and cutting taxes, Marcel
Thieliant, head of Asia Pacific at Capital Economics, wrote in a note.
Trading was thin as stock markets in China, South Korea and Taiwan were
closed. The first day of the Lunar New Year this year falls on Tuesday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.5% in its half-day session, closing at
26,705.94.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.2% to 8,937.10. India's Sensex
was up 0.4%.
U.S. futures edged higher. The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, while
that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was also up 0.4%. U.S. stock
markets are also closed on Presidents Day, a holiday.
On Friday, U.S. stocks calmed after a sharp drop earlier driven by
worries about artificial intelligence disruptions across various
industries which particularly hit software companies hard.
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A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's
Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Tokyo.
(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
 A report showing inflation cooled
last month also helped steady the markets. The data suggesting U.S.
price pressures may be easing offered more room for another Federal
Reserve interest rate cut.
The S&P 500 edged up less than 0.1% to 6,836.17. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 0.1% to 49,500.93. The Nasdaq composite
edged down 0.2% to 22,546.67.
Computer chipmaker Nvidia, the heaviest weight company on the S&P
500, was down 2.2% Friday. Technology company AppLovin rose 6.4%
after losing almost a fifth of its value on Thursday, as investors
focused on how AI could disrupt businesses of software and
technology-related firms.
In other dealings early Monday, gold and silver prices fell. The
price of gold was down 0.3% to $5,030.30 per ounce and the price of
silver fell 1.2% to $77.05 an ounce.
Oil prices fell. U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 34 cents to $62.55
per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, was also
34 cents lower at $67.41 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar was at 153.33 Japanese yen, up from 152.64 yen. The
euro was trading at $1.1867, down from $1.1872.
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