Dow Falls Over 250 Points; US Initial Jobless Claims Decline

by | Feb 19, 2026 | General

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 250 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.54% to 49,394.62 while the NASDAQ fell 0.59% to 22,619.58. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.43% to 6,851.73.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares gained by 1.5% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary stocks fell by 1%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 23,000 to 206,000 during the second week of February, compared to market estimates of 225,000.

Equities Trading UP
           

  • Knorex Ltd (NYSE:KNRX) shares shot up 61% to $1.44.
  • Shares of Rubico Inc (NASDAQ:RUBI) got a boost, surging 56% to $3.49.
  • C3is Inc (NASDAQ:CISS) shares were also up, gaining 37% to $2.28 after the company posted fourth-quarter results.

Equities Trading DOWN

  • Moleculin Biotech Inc (NASDAQ:MBRX) shares dropped 38% to $2.97. Moleculin announced exercise of warrants for $8.3 million gross proceeds.
  • Shares of Alight Inc (NYSE:ALIT) were down 37% to $0.82 after the company reported worse-than-expected quarterly financial results.
  • Davis Commodities Ltd (NASDAQ:DTCK) was down, falling 25% to $0.14.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.1% to $66.55 while gold traded up 0.1% at $5,012.00.

Silver traded up 0.6% to $78.04 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.7% to $5.7120.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.7%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.2%. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.7%, Germany’s DAX fell 1.1% and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.9% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei gaining 0.57% and India’s BSE Sensex falling 1.48%.

Economics

  • The U.S. trade deficit increased to $70.3 billion in December from $53 billion in the previous month, compared to market estimates of a $55.5 billion gap.
  • The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index jumped to 16.3 in February, recording the highest level since September and topping market estimates of 8.5.
  • U.S. wholesale inventories increased by 0.2% month-over-month to $917.2 billion in December, matching November’s level.
  • U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 23,000 to 206,000 during the second week of February, compared to market estimates of 225,000.

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