High volatility was shown by Wall Street in the final session of the week, as the unprecedented images and… Waterloo of the Trump-Zelensky meeting at the White House took investors by surprise and erased initial gains across all indices. However, calm gradually returned to the market, with the focus returning to domestic economic issues, and as a result, indices returned to positive territory.

On the board, the Dow Jones eventually gained 1.39% to 43,840, the S&P 500 added 0.59% to 5,95,4, and the Nasdaq rose 1.63% to 18,847.

However, these gains were not enough to change the overall picture for the month, which was highly negative for all indices, with the week even being the worst of the year.

Specifically, the Nasdaq lost about 5% in February and 4.7% in the last five days alone. The S&P 500 fell 2.5% on the month and 2.2% on the week, completing its worst week since September 2024 and its worst monthly performance since April 2024. Correspondingly, the Dow is down 2.6% for the month.

In the bond market, yields continued to tumble with the 10-year yield falling to 4.229% and the 2-year to 3.995%.

The session started well in the wake of today’s release of the PCE, the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation index, which rose modestly in January. The development gave the market a breather at a time of heightened concern about the path of inflation, boosting bets in the money market that the Fed may have room to cut rates at least twice. Although it is still almost a given that it will take a wait-and-see approach at its upcoming meeting in March.

The good mood was suddenly spoiled by unexpected developments at the White House. Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at the presidential office to attend the signing ceremony of the bilateral agreement on the exploitation of Ukraine’s mineral wealth.

In the end, the conversation between Trump and Zelensky, in the presence of Vice President Vance, was derailed in front of the cameras with both sides firing high-pitched shots, resulting not only in the meeting ending prematurely with the cancellation of the joint lunch and press conference, but also in the controversial agreement never being signed.

The news caused turbulence in the market, driving the board into the red and sending the VIX fear index soaring to 22.15 points, its highest level since January.

However, the negative pressures gradually subsided, and the market rebalanced again, restoring gains to the indices.

“The market is fragile. The stress is clear in the market behaviour and we hear it from many clients. The market is struggling to find direction, but we are preparing for further volatility as we await more clarity on a long and growing list of issues,” commented Adam Phillips of EP Wealth Advisors as investors struggle to assess signals from the slowing economy, geopolitical developments, tariffs and the trade war, and even efficiencies in AI investing.

For Jay Hatfield of Infrastructure Capital Advisors, despite the shock of the developments surrounding US-Ukraine relations, the general feeling is that Trump will push for peace, which may ultimately have a positive impact on the market.

“With so many different statements from the White House affecting markets, it’s hard for investors to have confidence in the near-term outlook,” said Matt Maily of Miller Tabak + Co.

Despite a rebound in several stocks today, the report for many sectors was negative overall on a weekly and especially monthly basis.

Tellingly for Tesla it was the worst week for its stock since December 2022, down about 16%.

Nvidia’s star also “closed” with a five-day decline of 10.9%, despite its current rebound, while for Palantir, the total losses reached close to 19%, marking its worst five-day performance since 2021!

Shares in Chinese companies such as Nio, Alibaba, and Li Auto were also under pressure as Beijing’s intention to retaliate against Trump’s tariffs paves the way for a trade war.

Overall, the communications technology sector lost 6% over the week, making it the S&P 500’s biggest loser, in contrast to the financial sector, which managed to hold on with a five-day gain of 1.3%.

Among the winners was Berkshire Hathaway, which, after strong results announced last Saturday, confirmed the soundness of evergreen Warren Buffett’s choices with an overall positive performance. Today, the stock hit” new record highs.