NEW YORK, Feb 18 : U.S. stocks rallied, European stocks notched a record closing high and crude oil prices rebounded on Wednesday as investors parsed the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting and assessed evolving geopolitical developments.
Technology shares helped boost all three major U.S. indexes early in the session, while gold rebounded as Ukraine peace talks ended without a clear resolution.
“Tech has obviously struggled year-to-date,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. “It’s a nice change to see tech take back the baton, which it clearly has dropped so far in 2026.”
A report that Christine Lagarde plans to leave her role as European Central Bank President early dampened the euro and bolstered the dollar.
“(Lagarde) has been a calming voice, and it’s been nice to have solid leadership in place,” Detrick added. “Potential rumors that she might be leaving a tad earlier, it’s shaken up currency markets a little bit.”
On the geopolitical front, as peace negotiations ended, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of delaying progress toward reaching a deal.
Iran’s temporary closure of parts of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial global oil supply route, also added to supply worries.
This “double-whammy of continued geopolitical uncertainty … has led to higher oil and higher gold prices,” Detrick says.
Minutes from the Fed’s most recent monetary policy meeting revealed officials were in near-unanimous agreement to hold interest rates steady, but remained split over their next move.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 89.86 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 49,623.05, the S&P 500 rose 30.79 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 6,874.01 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 156.31 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 22,734.69.
Europe’s STOXX 600 closed at a record high, with defense and banking stocks leading the charge, as investors assessed earnings and reports of a leadership transition at the ECB.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 5.55 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 1,047.99.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.19 per cent, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 30.30 points, or 1.22 per cent.
Emerging market stocks rose 3.35 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 1,559.05. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed higher by 0.08 per cent, to 796.66, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 577.35 points, or 1.02 per cent, to 57,143.84.
DOLLAR ADVANCES
The dollar strengthened on the heels of upbeat durable goods and housing starts data, while the euro dipped on the report about Lagarde’s plans to leave her post early.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.6 per cent to 97.71, with the euro down 0.57 per cent at $1.1786.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.95 per cent to 154.74.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 2.43 per cent to $66,005.75. Ethereum declined 3.28 per cent to $1,933.61.
U.S. Treasury yields held their gains following the release of the Fed minutes and the Treasury Department’s auction of 20-year bonds.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 2.9 basis points to 4.083 per cent, from 4.054 per cent late on Tuesday.
The 30-year bond yield rose 2.6 basis points to 4.7089 per cent from 4.683 per cent late on Tuesday.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose 2 basis points to 3.457 per cent, from 3.437 per cent late on Tuesday.
Crude prices surged on worries over supply disruption following the abrupt end to the Russia-Ukraine peace talks and worries of an escalating conflict between the United States and Iran.
U.S. crude jumped 4.59 per cent to settle at $65.19 per barrel, while Brent settled at $70.35 per barrel, up 4.35 per cent on the day.
Gold rebounded from a one-week low as rising geopolitical tensions revived demand for the safe-haven metal.
Spot gold rose 2.1 per cent to $4,982.89 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 2.09 per cent to $4,985.00 an ounce.
