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The final trading week in February featured a number of important events. The first major event of the week was the State of the Union address given by President Trump on Tuesday night.

Although it featured a lot of political posturing, the president did suggest the creation of government-sponsored 401(k) plans. Those plans would allow all Americans to contribute to their retirement whether they were employed by a company that offered such a plan or not. The annual match would be up to $1,000 if the proposal became law. However, it’s important to note that this is just speculation for now and that there would likely be a long road toward its enactment.

On Thursday, the unemployment claims data for the week came out. Over the past seven days, there were 212,000 requests for benefits, which was lower than the projected 217,000 requests for benefits over that period. However, it was slightly higher than the 208,000 claims made the week prior.

On Friday, delayed PPI data from January was released, and it was revealed that prices rose faster than expected that month. For that time period, overall PPI was up by 0.5 percent compared to an expected increase of 0.3 percent. Core PPI was up 0.8 percent compared to a projected increase of 0.3 percent.

An increase in prices may result in changes to the future of monetary policy. While some believe that the Fed could opt to cut interest rates to 2 percent, inflationary pressure will likely cause the Fed to study the issue further before taking action. It’s also worth noting that some Fed members are worried about inflation remaining closer to 3 percent than 2 percent, which is considered the optimum rate for the long-term.

The S&P 500 was down 0.38 percent this week to close at 6,878. This was a drop of 26 points for the index that is down 1.35 over the past month. However, it is still up over 17 percent from this time last year. For the week, the S&P 500 made a high of 6,946 on Wednesday while it made its low of the week of 6,822 on Monday morning.

The Dow was down 1.15 percent this week to close at 48,977 at the end of the day on Friday. This was a drop of 571 points that was fueled by a loss of just over 1 percent on Friday alone. For the week, the index made a high of 49,504 at the open on Monday and a low of 48,762 on Friday.

Typically, the indexes move in the same direction over the course of a day or a week. However, the Nasdaq closed higher this week bucking the trend set by the other two major indexes. It finished 0.51 percent higher to close at 24,960 at the end of trading on Friday. This was an increase of 127 points for the tech-heavy market featuring names such as Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon.

In international news, Australia announced Tuesday night that its CPI figure went up by 0.4 percent over the past month. This equates to an annual inflation rate of 3.8 percent. On Friday morning, Canada announced that its gross domestic product (GDP) was up 0.2 percent over the past month. This beat projections of 0.1 percent growth following a flat reading last month.

The upcoming week is going to be another interesting one for investors. There will likely be more fallout from the Supreme Court’s plan to end Trump’s tariffs as well as more handwringing about how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact the market. As it’s the first week of March, the jobs report should be released on Friday with the ADP releasing its version of the report on Wednesday. The ISM Manufacturing PMI will be released on Monday, the ISM Services PMI on Wednesday and unemployment claims on Thursday as regularly scheduled.

It was another consequential week for market participants as a slew of important data points were released. Gross domestic product (GDP) data for the last month, the Core PCE Price Index and a ruling from the Supreme Court regarding tariffs were announced.

On Wednesday, the FOMC released the minutes from their January meeting. The FOMC was split as to where rates would go in the future with some believing that solid labor numbers justified a pause or even increasing rates. However, others feel that a cooler inflationary environment calls for further rate cuts. It’s likely that the Fed will cut rates at least once or twice this year, but the timing is not yet certain.

On Thursday, unemployment claims data was released. Over the past seven days, 206,000 people filed claims for benefits, which was below the projected 223,000 and below last week’s figure of 229,000.

On Friday, the Core Price PCE Index for December was up by 0.4 percent compared to an expected increase of 0.3 percent. It was also higher than the 0.2 percent reading in November. Also on Friday, it was revealed that GDP growth was estimated to be 1.4 percent in the final quarter compared to an expected 2.8 percent. It is also well below the 4.4 percent growth in the third quarter of 2025.

The services and manufacturing PMI reports were also released Friday morning. Manufacturing came in at 51.2 while services came in at 52.3. Although both figures indicate that these sectors are expanding, they came in below expectations and were both lower than the number recorded in January.

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that President Trump’s tariff plan was unconstitutional. Specifically, a 6-3 majority ruled that the president lacked the authority to impose tariffs by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Although it’s likely that at least some tariffs will remain in place citing other laws on the books, the president won’t have the broad power he wants to impose them. The Supreme Court’s ruling didn’t address whether companies and other entities that have paid tariffs would be entitled to refunds.

Markets are expected to show more volatility over the next few days as investors digest the tariff news. However, the S&P 500 initially reacted favorably to the ruling as the index finished up more than 40 points on Friday. For the week, the index was up 69 points to close at 6,909, which was a 1.02 percent gain over the last five trading days. The market made its low of the week on Tuesday morning when it dipped to 6,783 and closed near its weekly high.

The Dow was also up on Friday and for the week. Over the past five trading days, the index gained 165 points to close at 49,265, which was a gain of 0.33 percent. The weekly high occurred on Wednesday when the Dow peaked at 49,852 while the weekly low of 49,207 was reached on Friday morning.

Finally, the Nasdaq finished the week up 1.29 percent thanks to a strong showing on Friday. The index finished Friday’s trading at 25,012, which was an increase of 317 points from the start of Monday. The weekly low of 24,417 was reached on Tuesday morning while the weekly high of 25,060 was hit on Friday afternoon.

Next week should be a relatively quiet one with only a couple of important news items on the schedule. On Friday, the latest PPI data will be made public while President Trump gives the State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Unemployment claims data will be released on Thursday as usual.

It was another consequential week for market participants as some big news was revealed on Wednesday and Friday. The January jobs report and inflation numbers caused a lot of chatter among economists as to what they might mean for monetary policy and the economy.

The week kicked off with delayed retail sales data released on Tuesday morning. During the month of December, core retail sales were flat compared to an expected increase of 0.3 percent. Overall retail sales were also flat compared to an expected increase of 0.4 percent.

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed that the economy grew by 130,000 jobs in January. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3 percent while average hourly earnings grew by 0.4 percent. Analysts believed that the economy would add just 66,000 jobs in January.

On Thursday, unemployment claims data for the last seven days was made public. Over the past week, there were 227,000 requests for benefits compared to an expected 222,000. Last week, there were 232,000 claims made.

Finally, Friday saw the release of the CPI report for January. During that month, overall CPI came in at 0.2 percent while core CPI came in at 0.3 percent. This translates to an inflation rate of 2.4 percent on an annualized basis, the lowest level in about five years. The drop was attributed to lower gas prices as well as a slowdown in apartment rental price increases.

It is also believed that changes or delays to proposed tariffs have alleviated fears of sustained inflation. The consensus is that the Fed will either stand pat or continue to cut rates as it can likely do so without kickstarting an inflationary cycle.

The S&P 500 was down 1.1 percent this week to close at 6,836 at the close of trading Friday. The index made its weekly high on Wednesday morning when it peaked at 6,991 before reversing and nosediving in the second half of the week. On Friday afternoon, it hit its weekly low of 6,821 before reversing to close out the day.

The Dow surpassed 50,000 to begin the week. However, it fell 493 points over the past five trading days to finish Friday at 49,500. This was a loss of 0.97 percent for the index that made its weekly high of 50,430 on Tuesday. It made a low of 49,326 on Friday morning.

Finally, the Nasdaq lost 190 points this week to close Friday’s session at 24,732. This was a drop of 0.76 percent for the index that followed the lead of the other two major markets over the past five days. On Wednesday morning, the Nasdaq made a weekly high of 25,366 and made its weekly low of 24,677 on Friday morning.

In international news, China announced on Tuesday that its inflation rate was up 0.2 percent on an annualized basis in January. On Thursday, Great Britain announced that its gross domestic product (GDP) was up 0.1 percent in January. Finally, on Friday morning, Switzerland announced that inflation dropped by 0.1 percent in January.

The upcoming week will likely be another interesting one even if it gets off to a slow start.
. FOMC meeting minutes will be released on Wednesday while the Core PCE Price Index for January will be released on Friday. The Flash Manufacturing PMI and Flash Services PMI will also be released at the end of the week.