Asia-Pacific markets began the first full trading week of 2026 on a stronger note after the U.S. said it had attacked Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend. Oil prices edged lower as markets weighed the potential impact of geopolitical tensions. U.S. authorities said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown to New York following the operation and charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy and other crimes. An indictment said drug trafficking had “enriched and entrenched Venezuela’s political and military elite.” Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 2.82% in its first trading session of the year, while the Topix index added 1.42% to a record high.
The S&P 500 closed slightly higher on Friday, the first trading day of 2026, as gains in semiconductor names kept the index afloat. The benchmark closed up 0.19% at 6,858.47, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.03% to finish at 23,235.63. The two had been solidly positive earlier in the day, with the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq trading higher by 0.7% and 1.5% at their peaks, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 319.10 points, or 0.66%, to settle at 48,382.39. Friday’s gain marks a reversal from the first-day trading trend of the last few years. The S&P 500 finished lower on the first day of trading for each of the last three years. Key chip stocks such as Nvidia and Micron Technology climbed in the session.
Gold prices rose over 1% above $4,400 per ounce on Monday, extending Friday’s gains as heightened geopolitical tensions following the US ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro drove investors toward safe-haven assets. President Trump said that Washington would temporarily “run” Venezuela after capturing Maduro in a surprise military strike on Saturday, deepening uncertainty over the country’s future leadership. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US would push for change through an oil blockade but would not directly govern the country. Investors are also closely watching key US economic data this week, particularly the non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which could offer more clues on the path of US interest rates.
WTI crude oil futures hovered around $57 per barrel on Monday, shifting between gains and losses, as investors assessed the implications of the US attack on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro. Markets are weighing the potential impact on regional crude supply, given that Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves. However, some analysts expect limited disruption, noting that Venezuela currently produces less than 1 million barrels of crude per day, accounting for under 1% of global output. Others warn that oil prices could rise later this year amid concerns that more aggressive US pressure on global adversaries, including Iran, may tighten supply conditions.
U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife during a stunning, large-scale attack on their nation overnight. American authorities said Saturday morning that the couple had been indicted in New York on drug-trafficking charges. The U.S. military operation was conducted in coordination with American law enforcement authorities, U.S. President Donald Trump said in an early morning post on Truth Social. “The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement,” Trump said. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned President Donald Trump to stop threatening to acquire Greenland just a day after the U.S. carried out a military operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. “The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is part of NATO and is therefore covered by the alliance’s security guarantee. We already have a defense agreement between the Kingdom and the United States today, which gives the United States wide access to Greenland,” Frederiksen said Sunday, in a statement. “I would therefore strongly urge the United States to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have said very clearly that they are not for sale,” she said. The warning from Frederiksen comes after Trump was quoted by The Atlantic magazine, saying, “We do need Greenland, absolutely.”
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Anna Paulson said on Saturday that further central bank rate cuts could be some way off while officials take stock of the economy’s performance after an active campaign of easing last year. "I see inflation moderating, the labour market stabilizing and growth coming in around 2 percent this year,” Paulson said in the text of a speech to be delivered before the 2026 Allied Social Science Associations Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. “If all of that happens, then some modest further adjustments to the funds rate would likely be appropriate later in the year,” the official said. Paulson also said “I view the current level of the funds rate as still a little restrictive,” adding it is still working to lower inflation pressures.
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Monday the central bank will continue to raise interest rates if economic and price developments move in line with its forecasts. Japan’s economy sustained a moderate recovery last year despite the hit to corporate profits from higher U.S. tariffs, Ueda said in a speech delivered to the country’s banking sector lobby. "Wages and prices are highly likely to rise together moderately," Ueda said, adding that adjusting the degree of monetary support will help the economy achieve sustained growth. The BOJ raised its policy rate to a 30-year high of 0.75% from 0.5% last month, taking another landmark step in ending decades of huge monetary support and near-zero borrowing costs.
Elon Musk’s Starlink is offering free broadband internet service to users in Venezuela through Feb. 3, following U.S. airstrikes and the capture of ousted leader Nicolas Maduro. The satellite internet provider said in a release on Sunday that service credits were being added proactively to both active and inactive accounts as it monitored evolving conditions and regulatory requirements. “While we do [not yet have] a timeline for local purchase availability, if and when there are updates, they will be communicated directly through official Starlink channels,” it added. Starlink, which is a subsidiary of aerospace company SpaceX, provides internet access through low-earth-orbit satellites and requires users to purchase separate equipment to connect to the service.
A company controlled by a Chinese national was ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday to unwind a $2.9 million acquisition of chip assets from a U.S. manufacturer, citing national security concerns. The White House said in an executive order that HieFo Corporation, incorporated in Delaware, was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China.” HieFo acquired the digital chips and related wafer design, fabrication, and processing businesses of New Jersey-based Emcore on April 30, 2024, which included a semiconductor manufacturing facility, the Treasury Department said in a separate statement. The potential diversion of the supply of indium phosphide chips manufactured by Emcore’s digital chips business away from the U.S. was also identified as a national security risk, the Treasury Department added.
Samsung Electronics plans to double this year the number of its mobile devices with AI features powered by Google’s Gemini, its co-CEO said, which would give the U.S. firm an edge over rivals as the global race in artificial intelligence hots up. The South Korean company, which had rolled out Gemini-backed AI features to about 400 million mobile products, including smartphones and tablets, by last year, plans to boost that figure to 800 million in 2026. "We will apply AI to all products, all functions, and all services as quickly as possible," T M Roh told Reuters in his first interview since becoming Samsung Electronics co-CEO in November. The plan by the world’s largest backer of Google’s Android mobile platform is set to give a major boost to its developer Google, which is locked in a race with OpenAI and others to attract more consumer users to their AI model.
BYD sharply declined in December from a year before, as it closed the curtains on a volatile year for China electric vehicles amid an aggressive price war and weak domestic demand. The company recorded 414,784 deliveries in December, down from 474,921 in November, according to a Friday filing. The latest reading brings BYD to hit its 2025 sales target, which it lowered by 16% to 4.6 million, amid increasingly weakening domestic demand. The EV behemoth also remained the clear market leader, delivering more than 4.54 million passenger vehicles for 2025 – a 6.94% increase from its 2024 deliveries. That overshadows Tesla’s recorded wholesale deliveries of 735,274 from Model Y and Model 3 vehicles in China, between January and November, based on CNBC’s calculation of data from the China Passenger Car Association. December numbers have yet to be released.
Tesla delivered 418,227 electric vehicles in the fourth quarter, down 15.6% from 495,570 in Q4 2024. TSLA shares angled higher early before falling in Friday' stock market. The EV giant reported Friday that fourth-quarter deliveries included 406,585 Model 3 and Model Y EVs, as well as 11,642 "other" vehicles, which include the Model S, Model X and Cybertruck. For energy storage, Tesla deployed 14.2 gigawatt-hours of energy storage in Q4, surpassing the previous record of 12.5 GWh of energy storage in Q3. Broadly across the U.S., EV sales have taken a hit since the end of September when the $7,500 federal EV tax credit ended. Friday’s slump marked the seventh-consecutive session of declines, the longest losing streak since 2024.