- Risk appetite is returning: the rebound in technology stocks that lifted Wall Street benchmarks has spilled over into Asia, as fears over the “disruptive” impact of AI on the economy and businesses have eased after weeks of turbulence. Iran also said it is ready to make any necessary concessions to the US to achieve peace, which helped calm markets that had been worried about war and a potential oil shock.
- Asia at fresh highs: MSCI’s Asia equity index climbed 1.5% to a new record, while South Korea and Taiwan—often viewed as barometers of the AI investment cycle—also notched new highs.
- Tech leads with a key catalyst ahead: stronger performance in previously battered software names improved sentiment in the US, while markets are waiting for today’s Nvidia earnings—a critical test for the AI narrative. Europe was also set for a firmer open; US index futures, including US100, are edging slightly higher today.
- A softer dollar, stronger Asian FX: the US dollar slipped by up to 0.2%, supporting the yuan and lifting Asian currencies broadly to a 16-month high.
- US futures give back part of the move: contracts on US equity indices surrendered most of their earlier gains after Trump’s State of the Union address, pointing to more cautious risk-taking after the cash-session impulse.
- Rates steady: the US 10-year Treasury yield hovered around 4.04% (about +1 bp), suggesting no clear flight to safety.
- Yen volatility on BoJ signals: JPY fluctuations follow the nomination of two “reflationist” academics to the Bank of Japan policy board, fuelling speculation that the government may prefer a cautious approach toward near-term rate hikes.
- Precious metals remain firm: gold and silver are higher, extending their relative strength this year alongside equities.
- Crypto stabilises: Bitcoin is giving back part of its earlier gains but is holding around the $65,000 area.
- PayPal rebounds on takeover speculation: payments giant Stripe is considering acquisition all parts of PayPal according to sources, sending the stock up nearly 7% on the reports.
- China semiconductor rise: China aims to boost output of relatively advanced chips to 100,000 wafers in 1-2 years informed Nikkei citing two sources familiar with the matter.
- Anthropic introduced five new in-house built plugins for Claude: company says customers can customize plugins to tailor Claude to specific workflows with Claude now working across Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, expanding enterprise productivity use cases.
US100 (H1 timeframe)
Since the last bearish impulse, the Nasdaq 100 contract has moved above the 200-period exponential moving average (EMA200, red line) seven times—and each time it failed to hold the breakout and reversed lower. The current rebound offers hope for a more durable break above this resistance level, potentially opening the way for a corrective move toward the 25,500-point area.
Source: xStation5
Daily summary: Technology Drives Wall Street as Tehran Seeks Truce
US OPEN: Wall Street rebounds after AMD-Meta deal
Market wrap: reshuffling in European markets after trade turmoil – what to watch? 🔎
⛔ Trump’s tariffs ruled illegal: will companies receive billions of dollars in refunds?
