Oil prices stabilized on Thursday (February 12th), as the market reassigned a risk premium to US-Iran tensions despite US inventory data showing swelling domestic supplies. This movement confirms one thing: geopolitical headlines are still more "noise" than signals of a short-term surplus. As of 3:50 PM WIB, Brent was at $69.60/barrel (+0.29%) and WTI was at $64.83/barrel (+0.31%). The gains were moderate, but enough to keep prices near the psychological $70 level for Brent. From a geopolitical perspective, market focus is on the potential for escalation in the Middle East. Recent reports...
Policymakers around the globe should not react in haste to announcements by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, and be prepared to argue their case, World Bank President Ajay Banga told Reuters. Trump's first week in office has seen a flurry of executive orders and policy plans, ranging from tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China to a review on all existing foreign assistance. "My only advice to everyone is don't be in too much of a hurry to respond or judge," Banga told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit in Tanzania's commercial capital...
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dipped into the 44,000 handle during Monday's early overnight session, driven lower by a fresh bout of souring in investor risk appetite after a Chinese company globally released an open-source competitor to US-based AI models that have been largely proprietary up to this point. Investor sentiment was driven further into the floorboards by a political spat between United States (US) President Donald Trump and Colombia over the weekend after a disagreement between the two countries over the return of Colombian migrants from the US led to President Trump...
US stocks plunged on Monday (1/27), with the S&P 500 down 1.8%, the Dow Jones down about 207 points and the Nasdaq nearly 3%, driven by growing concerns about US dominance in AI. The latest AI model from Chinese startup DeepSeek, which has been praised for its cost-effectiveness and ability to run on less advanced chips, attracted significant attention as its AI Assistant overtook ChatGPT to become the top-rated free app on the US Apple App Store. The technology sector was by far the worst performer. Nvidia plunged more than 10%, Broadcom slumped 11.5% and Micron Technology lost more...
European stocks slumped on Monday (27/1) as the technology sector tracked a rout in other markets after China's improved low-cost, low-power artificial intelligence (AI) models fueled concerns about rivals' profits and the need for expensive technology. The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) was down 0.7% by 0815 GMT. U.S. Nasdaq Composite futures fell 3.1%, while S&P 500 futures fell 1%. Startup DeepSeek has launched a free assistant that it says uses low-cost chips and less data, appearing to challenge widespread bets in financial markets that AI will drive demand along the supply chain...
The Hang Seng rose 132 points, or 0.7%, to close at 20,198 on Monday (1/27), gaining for a second session amid broad gains. Positive sentiment was supported by news that the US and Colombia have averted trade tensions, as the White House confirmed that Bogota has agreed to all conditions set by President Trump in the migrant dispute. Adding to the upbeat mood, three Chinese insurance companies received regulatory approval to invest CNY 52 billion in stocks. Furthermore, excitement around DeepSeek, a Chinese AI with a cost-saving model, increased, sending tech stocks such as Kuaishou Tech...
Japanese stocks fell after the close on Monday (1/27), as losses in the Precision Instruments, Automobiles & Parts and Gas & Water sectors led shares lower. At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.83%. The best performers on the Nikkei 225 were Keio Corp. (TYO:9008), which rose 6.23% or 231.00 points to trade at 3,938.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (TYO:5233) gained 5.53% or 209.00 points to close at 3,987.00 and KDDI Corp. (TYO:9433) gained 4.81% or 234.00 points to 5,103.00 in late trade. The worst performers during the session were Furukawa Electric...
Hong Kong's stocks climbed 192 points or nearly 1% to 20,254 around noon on Monday, increasing for the second session and notching their highest level in two weeks as all sectors gained. Traders were upbeat after Bloomberg News reported that the US held off on Colombia tariffs after the South American country agreed to all of President Trump's terms in migrant dispute. A surge of 11% yoy in Chinese industrial profits for December also buoyed sentiment, as it marked the first rise since July even as they recorded the third consecutive year of drop. Limiting further gains was a slump in US...
Japanese stocks started the week on a positive note but quickly gave up most of their early gains as investors assessed the impact of the Bank of Japan's latest monetary policy decision. On Friday, the BOJ raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.5%, marking the highest short-term borrowing costs in 16 years. The central bank also projected inflation to reach its 2% target in the second half of its forecast period, suggesting the possibility of more rate hikes ahead. Investor sentiment soured further following news that US President Donald Trump had imposed tariffs and sanctions on...
Gold rises in the early Asian trade. There's a broad commodities uptrend, driven by macro uncertainty, a weaker dollar, and persistent demand for "hard" assets, says Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst...
Oil extended declines after OPEC+ agreed to a bigger-than-expected production increase next month, raising concerns about oversupply just as US tariffs fan fears about the demand outlook.
Brent...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) weakened against its US counterpart and reversed part of Friday's recovery from the lowest level since July 23 following Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda's remarks....