Wall Street ended higher on Friday after a choppy trading session, with Dell Technologies dipping and other tech stocks climbing after a meeting between the U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy ended in disaster. Zelenskiy and Trump traded verbal blows at the White House before the world’s media. This created fresh uncertainty over Ukraine’s war with Russia for investors already worried about sticky U.S. inflation and a tepid economy. The S&P 500 moved lower immediately after the clash before recovering and ending the day with a gain. Zelenskiy left the White House without signing a much-vaunted deal between Ukraine and the U.S. over the joint development of natural resources. “The news, if you watched it live, it was pretty worrisome. It got heated, and Zelenskiy is considered an ally of the U.S.,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive at 50 Park Investments. “That’s why the market sold off, but then cooler heads prevailed. Zelenskiy either is going to make a deal or he’s not.” Dell (DELL.N), opens new tab dropped 4.7% after the PC maker forecast a decline in its adjusted gross margin rate for fiscal 2026. Peer HP Inc (HPQ.N), opens new tab fell 6.8% after its quarterly profit forecasts missed expectations. Nvidia <NVDA.O> and Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab rose almost 4% each and lifted the S&P 500. The S&P 500 climbed 1.59% to end the session at 5,954.50 points. The Nasdaq gained 1.63% to 18,847.28 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.39% to 43,840.91 points. Volume on U.S. exchanges was heavy, with 17.5 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 15.4 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions. All 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by financials (.SPSY), opens new tab, up 2.1%, followed by a 1.8% gain in consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD), opens new tab. For the week, the S&P 500 fell about 1%, the Nasdaq lost 3.5% and the Dow climbed almost 1%. The Nasdaq lost about 4% for all of February, its deepest monthly loss since April 2024. The S&P 500 fell 1.45% for the month and the Dow lost 1.6%. Earlier, a Commerce Department report showed inflation rose in January in line with expectations. However, consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, dropped 0.2% after an upwardly revised 0.8% increase in December. This could complicate the Federal Reserve’s deliberations on monetary policy. “Spending came in lower than we were looking for… most of it I would attribute to a cooling economy, which presents a dilemma for the Fed in the sense that you still have inflation and you have an economy that is moving lower. If you add them together, that equals stagflation,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities. Friday’s report is important for investors trying to gauge the next move for the central bank after policymakers reiterated a hawkish stance. Investors worry Trump’s policies, especially trade restrictions, could exacerbate U.S. inflation. “Tariff talk certainly is having a negative effect on the stock market, and it probably will keep a lid on stock market advances until there’s more clarity around that,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. Traders see the Fed lowering borrowing costs twice by December, little changed from before the report, according to data compiled by LSEG. Investors will assess comments from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee later in the day. The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX), opens new tab, also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, touched a one-month high and was last up at 21.26 points. Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 (.AD.SPX), opens new tab by a 7.1-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted 39 new highs and 14 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 43 new highs and 332 new lows.

NEW YORK (AP) — An “economic blackout” promoted on social media was underway Friday but with no clear indication of how many people took part or whether national retailers and restaurant chains noticed any effect from the grassroots protest. A fledgling activist group encouraged U.S. residents to refrain from spending for 24 hours as an act of resistance against what the group’s founder described as the malign influence of billionaires, big corporations and both major political parties on the lives of working Americans. The planned blackout started at 12 a.m. EST and was set to run through 11:59 p.m. EST. As of midday, any retrenchment on the part of consumers wasn’t visible, according to Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at market research firm Circana. The assessment was based on phone calls with retail executives and reports from his network of analysts monitoring malls and stores, Cohen said. “It doesn’t look like anybody’s really pulling back,” he said. “If you get 5% or 10% of the people that don’t shop, that could happen on any given day because of the rain.” Other groups and individuals are organizing longer boycotts to protest companies that have reduced their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and to oppose President Donald Trump’s moves to abolish all federal DEI programs and policies.

Who’s behind the ‘24-hour Economic Blackout?’

The People’s Union USA, which takes credit for initiating the no-spend day, was founded only recently by John Schwarz, a meditation teacher who lives in the Chicago area, according to his social media accounts. The Associated Press did not receive a reply to requests for comment sent this week to the email address on the organization’s website. The website includes a link to a crowdfunding site where Schwarz requested help funding The People’s Union USA. As of late Friday afternoon, it showed well over $95,000 in donations, the vast majority in amounts $50 and under. The New York Times reported Friday afternoon that a biography in the “Meet the Founder” section of the website omitted information about Schwarz that many potential donors would have found off-putting: in 2007, a Connecticut judge sentenced him to 90 days in jail and five years’ probation for disseminating voyeuristic material. The AP could not immediately reach the Middlesex County criminal court clerk’s office to verify the court records the newspaper cited. The Times said Schwarz did not admit guilt with the plea he entered at the time but agreed the state had enough evidence to convict him and did not contest the charge. “This whole thing was a big scam,” he told the newspaper Friday. “It’s going to be expunged. … I did not do anything inappropriate to anybody.” The term “Blackout” previously was applied to a 2020 protest initiated by two Black women who wanted the music industry to take a day to talk about racism and how the industry profited off Black artists. They created a campaign under the hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused. Social media users joined in by posting black squares and pausing their feeds to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The People’s Union USA plans another broad-based economic blackout on March 28. It is also promoting weeklong consumer boycotts of specific retailers — Walmart and Amazon — as well as global food giants Nestle and General Mills.

Are people participating?

For his economic blackout, Schwarz advised participants to refrain from making any purchases either in stores or online, to shun fast food and to avoid filling their car gas tanks. Shoppers with emergencies or in need of essentials should support a local small business, he said. Many research firms weren’t tracking the event’s immediate impact on sales. Companies may comment eventually if the various boycotts have material business consequences. Some people posted videos on social media saying they weren’t making any store purchases Friday. Some users said they brewed their morning coffee at home, packed a lunch to take to work or bought items they needed ahead of time. Rachelle Biennestin, a first-grade teacher and TikTok content creator who lives near the Boston area, accepted the invitation not to shop Friday. She already was participating in “No Buy 2025,” a social media-driven trend that encourages participants to reduce personal over-consumption. Biennestin said she wanted to spend less money because major companies, such as Walmart, Amazon and Target, have backed away from their DEI commitments. She redirected her business to Costco, which has stood behind its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. “I’m not going to forget that they rolled back on DEI,” Biennestin said. “I’m going to remember that, and so will my wallet.” The no-spend day also received plenty of criticism online and inspired snarky suggestions for counter-protest shopping sprees. However, small businesses may have benefited from shoppers who decided to visit independent shops. Mischa Roy, who owns a tea and home goods shop in Northampton, Massachusetts called Spill the Tea Sis, had reduced staffing in case the blackout made Friday slow. Instead, sales were brisk, Roy said. “We are definitely seeing brand loyalty and small business loyalty,” she said.

What other boycotts are in the works?

A number of boycotts are in the works. An Atlanta-area pastor, the Rev. Jamal Bryant, organized a website called targetfast.org to recruit Christians for a a 40-day Target boycott starting March 5, which marks Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Other faith leaders have endorsed the protest. Target announced in January that it was ending its hiring, supplier recruitment and promotion goals for women, members of racial minority groups, LGBTQ+ people, veterans and people with disabilities. The discount retailer headquartered in Minneapolis previously had a reputation as an inclusion ally. The Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, announced in late January that the civil rights organization would identify two companies in the next 90 days that will be boycotted for abandoning their DEI pledges.

Will the events have any impact?

Some retailers may feel a slight pinch from Friday’s broad “blackout.” Renewed inflation worries and Trump’s threat of tariffs on imported goods already have had an effect on consumer sentiment and spending. Anna Tuchman, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, thinks the economic blackout will likely make a dent in daily retail sales but won’t be sustainable. “I think this is an opportunity for consumers to show that they have a voice on a single day,” she said. ”I think it’s unlikely that we would see long-run sustained decreases in economic activity supported by this boycott.” Other boycotts have produced different results. Tuchman studied the impact of a boycott against Goya Foods during the summer of 2020 after the company’s CEO praised Trump. Her research, based on data from research firm Numerator, found the brand saw a sales increase driven by first-time Goya buyers who were disproportionately from heavily Republican areas. However, the bump proved temporary; Goya had no detectable sales increase after three weeks, Tuchman said. It was a different story for Bud Light, which spent decades as America’s bestselling beer. Sales plummeted in 2023 after the brand sent a commemorative can to a transgender influencer. Bud Light’s sales still haven’t fully recovered, according to alcohol consulting company Bump Williams.

In early February, John Schwarz, a self-described “mindfulness and meditation facilitator,” proposed a 24-hour nationwide “economic blackout” of major chains on the last day of the month. Schwarz urged people to forgo spending at Amazon, Walmart, and all other major retailers and fast-food companies for a day. He called on them to spend money only at small businesses and on essential needs. “The system has been designed to exploit us,” said Schwarz, who goes by “TheOneCalledJai” on social media, in a video to his roughly 250,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. “On February 28, we are going to remind them who really holds the power. For one day, we turn it off.” Schwarz, 57, has no background in social or political organizing. Until early this year, he almost exclusively posted videos of himself offering inspirational messages and motivational tips sitting in his home, backyard and shopping mall parking lots. He had low expectations for his boycott message gaining traction. “I thought maybe a handful of my followers would do it,” he told CNN in a phone interview this week. Instead, Schwarz’s call rapidly spread online. His video has been shared more than 700,000 times on Instagram and viewed 8.5 million times. Celebrities such as Stephen King, Bette Midler and Mark Ruffalo have encouraged people to participate. Reporters wrote and aired TV pieces about the boycott, propelling it further. The “economic blackout” effort is relatively uncoordinated and nebulous. Experts on consumer boycotts and corporate strategy are dubious that it will make a dent in the bottom lines of the massive companies it targets, let alone the vast US economy. Effective boycotts are typically well organized, make clear and specific demands and are focused on one company or issue. But this boycott has gained strength online because it has captured visceral public anger with the American economy, corporations and politics. “There’s the sense that a lot of people want to do something. Doing something in the American context has often meant using pocketbook politics,” said Lawrence Glickman, a historian at Cornell University and author of “Buying Power: A History of Consumer Activism in America.” “This a way of engaging in a form of collective action outside of the electoral arena that makes people feel some connection and sense of potential power.”

SINGAPORE, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Investors unnerved by the prospect of U.S. President Donald Trump’s impending tariffs drove a wave of selling on Friday in risk-sensitive currencies such as the Aussie, sent bitcoin tumbling and gave safe-haven support to the dollar. On Thursday Trump said his proposed tariffs of 25% on Mexican and Canadian goods would take effect on March 4 along with an extra 10% duty on Chinese imports, defying expectations of those who hoped for a further delay in the levies. The risk-off moves gathered steam during the trading session, with cryptocurrencies among the biggest losers for the day as bitcoin slid more than 5% to bottom at $79,125.53, its weakest level since November 11. Ether similarly tumbled more than 5% to an over 13-month low of $2,099.37. The two tokens were on track for their steepest monthly falls since June 2022, following a towering rally late last year on optimism that the Trump administration would be a boon for the asset class. “Bitcoin’s fall below $80,000 shows that positive sentiments from a crypto-friendly administration and high-profile endorsements have run their course,” said Joshua Chu, co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association. “It’s clear bitcoin is a risk asset, not the inflation hedge or digital gold it’s often touted to be.” In the broader market, the Aussie slid 0.4% to its lowest in more than three weeks at $0.62105, extending a decline of 1% from the previous session. It was on track for a weekly loss of nearly 2%. The New Zealand dollar similarly fell more than 0.5% to $0.5599 and was set to shed 1.9% for the week. The euro struggled at a two-week low of $1.0380 and was also headed for a weekly fall of 0.6%, which would put its monthly gain at just 0.35%. “Markets were shaken out of tariff complacency,” said Sim Moh Siong, currency strategist at Bank of Singapore. “We continue to see scope for some U.S. dollar strength if tariff risks materialise by April even as our conviction that the U.S. dollar can strengthen meaningfully is now reduced given cracks in the U.S. exceptionalism story.” The Canadian dollar slipped to a more than three-week low of C$1.4452, as it heads for a weekly decline of 1.5%. The greenback’s moves against the Chinese yuan were more muted as it was little changed at 7.2846, after rising to a two-week top of 7.2914 earlier in the session. “Ahead of China’s most important political event next week, investors are likely staying clear of the yuan as (the People’s Bank of China) would likely intervene to ensure the yuan’s stability,” said Alex Loo, FX and macro strategist at TD Securities. Against a basket of currencies, the greenback struck a two-week top of 107.42 , extending its 0.8% jump on Thursday. Still, the index was on track for a monthly loss of more than 1%, its worst since August, as the dollar faces downward pressure amid worries over the health of the world’s largest economy. A raft of weaker-than-expected economic data has led traders to ramp up bets for more Federal Reserve rate cuts this year, in turn sending U.S. Treasury yields lower and proving a drag on the dollar. “For now, it’s the growth story that is dominating, pushing yields lower, while at the same time, we’re starting to see a little bit of an increase in volatility in markets in general and that risk aversion as well,” said Rodrigo Catril, senior currency strategist at National Australia Bank. Elsewhere, sterling fell 0.17% to $1.2580, but was set to end the month with a gain of more than 1.6% for its best performance in five months. The pound has partly been supported by expectations for relatively fewer rate cuts from the Bank of England than some other central banks, namely the European Central Bank. The yen fell 0.1% to 149.91 per dollar . Still, the Japanese currency was set to rise 3.5% for the month, its best since last July, on heightened bets of more rate hikes this year by the Bank of Japan (BOJ). Core consumer prices in Tokyo slowed in February, but kept well above the BOJ’s 2% target, data showed on Friday.