Asia-Pacific markets were mostly lower on Monday as investors assessed renewed U.S. tariff threats tied to Greenland, raising concerns about escalating trade tensions with Europe. European states are reportedly discussing counter-tariffs and broader punitive economic measures in response to fresh tariff threats from President Donald Trump, further straining relations over Greenland. Trump on Saturday announced that exports from eight European nations would start at 10% on Feb. 1 and climb to 25% by June 1 if talks fail to secure U.S. control of Greenland, a mineral-rich, semi-autonomous island under Danish control. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.1%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 traded flat after heightened regulatory scrutiny following a surge in trading activity.
Stock futures on Monday night pointed to a downbeat session on Wall Street as President Donald Trump intensifies his rhetoric on Greenland, threatening to impose new tariffs on countries opposing the sale of the Danish territory to the U.S. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average indicated a decline of 378 points at Tuesdays open. S&P futures were set for a 0.9% drop, while Nasdaq 100 futures were poised to lose around 1.1%.
Gold prices rose to a fresh record near $4,690 per ounce on Tuesday, driven by strong haven demand amid renewed US-EU trade tensions. Reports on Monday indicated that Denmark is increasing its military presence in Greenland as President Trump refused to rule out using force to secure control of the island. This follows Trump’s threat to impose an additional 10% import tariff on eight European countries starting February 1, potentially rising to 25% in June unless the US is allowed to acquire the island. EU leaders are set to discuss countermeasures at an emergency summit on Thursday. Meanwhile, investors are eyeing the delayed US PCE inflation report due later this week, which could provide more clues on the Federal Reserve's rate path.
WTI crude oil futures hovered around $59.4 per barrel on Tuesday as traders weighed the implications of renewed trade tensions on energy demand. Frictions between the US and the EU escalated after President Trump threatened to impose extra tariffs on some European allies if the acquisition of Greenland is not agreed. Such measures could dampen economic activity and, in turn, oil demand. Meanwhile, near-term supply risks from Iran eased after Trump signalled a delay in military action, reducing fears of immediate disruptions to Middle Eastern oil flows. These developments come as the market continues to grapple with a significant supply surplus. Still, certain parts of the market continue to face tightness amid disruptions in the Black Sea and a temporary halt at Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oil field. Investors are now looking to the IEA’s monthly report on Wednesday for fresh insights into global supply and demand trends.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell plans to attend oral arguments on Wednesday at the Supreme Court in a case challenging the power of President Donald Trump to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC on Monday. Powell’s planned attendance comes as the Fed chairman is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., in connection with a multi-billion-dollar renovation of the central bank’s headquarters and his testimony to Congress about that project. The Associated Press first reported on Powell’s plans. For Powell to personally attend oral arguments in such a case is unusual. But the question of whether a president can fire a Fed governor in the manner that Trump has attempted is viewed within the central bank as having potentially existential consequences.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has received an invitation to join the U.S.′ “Board of Peace” for Gaza, the Kremlin said Monday. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would study the details of the proposal to join the peace council created by U.S. President Donald Trump late last year. The “Board of Peace” is seen as a vehicle for maintaining a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza after their protracted conflict. “President Putin has indeed received an offer through diplomatic channels to join this Board of Peace. We are currently studying all the details of this proposal,” Peskov told Russian state news agency TASS. “We hope to contact the U.S. side to clarify all the details,” he added.
The Bank of Japan is expected to raise its growth forecast on Friday and signal its readiness to hike interest rates further, as recent yen falls and prospects of solid wage gains keep policymakers alert to containing inflationary pressure. But BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda is likely to offer few clues on how soon the central bank could resume rate hikes, a decision complicated by rising bond yields and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s announcement on Monday to call a snap election in February. Having just raised interest rates to a 30-year high of 0.75% in December, the central bank is set to keep borrowing costs steady at its two-day policy meeting ending on Friday. Markets will be looking to Ueda’s post-meeting press conference for policy signals, particularly focussing on how the BOJ chief reconciles the need to keep unwelcome yen falls at bay while seeking to avoid further rises in bond yields.
U.S. President Donald Trump linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, telling Norway’s prime minister that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace,” two European officials said Monday. Trump’s message to Jonas Gahr Støre appears to ratchet up a standoff between Washington and its closest allies over his threats to take over Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark. On Saturday, Trump announced a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight nations that have rallied around Denmark and Greenland, including Norway. Those countries issued a forceful rebuke. But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to de-escalate tensions on Monday. While the White House has not ruled out taking control of the strategic Arctic island by force, Starmer said he did not believe military action would occur.
Shares of Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp rose nearly 10% on Monday, after U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology said it would buy a fabrication plant from the company. Micron Technology said on Saturday it had signed a letter of intent to acquire Powerchip’s P5 fabrication site in Tongluo, Miaoli County, Taiwan, for $1.8 billion in cash. Powerchip is one of Taiwan’s major semiconductor foundries and produces both legacy chips and memory chips. Micron said it expects the deal to help boost its output of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) wafers beginning in the second half of 2027. The purchase will add about 300,000 square feet of cleanroom space, a highly controlled environment needed for chip production, the company said. It will allow Micron to ramp up DRAM production in phases at a time when global demand for memory continues to outpace supply, the company added
OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said in a blog post on Sunday the company’s annualized revenue has surpassed $20 billion in 2025, up from $6 billion in 2024 with growth closely tracking an expansion in computing capacity. OpenAI’s computing capacity rose to 1.9 gigawatts (GW) in 2025 from 0.6 GW in 2024, Friar said in the blog, adding that Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s weekly and daily active users figures continue to produce all-time highs. OpenAI last week said it would start showing ads in ChatGPT to some U.S. users, ramping up efforts to generate revenue from the AI chatbot to fund the high costs of developing the technology. Separately, Axios reported on Monday that OpenAI’s policy chief Chris Lehane said that the company is "on track" to unveil its first device in the second half of 2026.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Monday it opened a recall query into about 597,571 vehicles from General Motors over engine failure. The recall affects GM vehicles equipped with a L87 6.2L V8 gas engine that experienced engine damage or failure, it said. The auto safety regulator said it had received 36 Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs) alleging engine failure in vehicles subject to the prior recall. The complaints received allege failures of remedies to the recall, NHTSA said. GM recalled 721,000 vehicles worldwide over engine issues in April last year, with nearly 600,000 vehicles in the U.S.
Tesla is poised to be one of the first automakers to benefit from Canada’s move to remove 100% tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, thanks to its early efforts to ship cars from its Shanghai plant there and its established Canadian sales network, experts say. Under the deal announced last Friday, Canada will allow up to 49,000 vehicles to be imported annually from China with a tariff of 6.1% on most-favoured nation terms. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the quota could rise to reach 70,000 vehicles within five years. However, under one clause in the agreement, half of the quota will be reserved for vehicles under 35,000 CAD ($25,189). Tesla model prices are all above that number. The U.S. automaker had that same year started shipping the car from Shanghai to Canada, boosting Canadian imports of automobiles from China to its largest port, Vancouver, by 460% year over year to 44,356 in 2023.