3 Things You Need to Know This Week | State of the Union, Consumer Sentiment, CA GDP (Feb. 23, 2026)

TL;DR

Markets matter more than headlines because reality keeps beating low expectations set by tariff fears and weak sentiment.

Key Points

• 1.State of the Union (Tuesday): Trump's address will likely focus on trade and tariffs, but SOTU promises rarely become law — extreme legislation remains a long shot, and widely discussed topics lose surprise power over stocks.
• 2.US Consumer Sentiment: January marked the third straight month of improvement and the strongest reading since August, but February's preliminary reading dipped slightly and sentiment remains historically low overall.
• 3.Eurozone Consumer Sentiment: Confidence has been rising but stays below its long-term average; both US and eurozone data are snapshots of current mood, not reliable predictors of future economic performance.
• 4.Canada Q4 GDP: Q3 2025 grew at a 2.6% annualized rate, but falling imports artificially inflated that figure; stocks are forward-looking while GDP is backward-looking, and tariff impacts are likely smaller than widely feared.