Defense stocks across Asia climbed Friday as investors continued to monitor ongoing geopolitical tensions, following the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and President Donald Trump’s renewed push to take over Greenland. Shares of South Korean Hanwha Aerospace surged as much as 11%. Poongsan jumped more than 6% while Korea Aerospace advanced 5%. In Japan, shares of Kawasaki Heavy Industries rose 2.29%, while IHI added 2.14%. Markets in the region traded mixed. China’s CSI 300 inched 0.1% higher after its December consumer prices rose 0.8% from a year earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday.
The S&P 500 pulled back on Monday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s last meeting of the year later this week. The broad market index fell 0.35% to close at 6,846.51, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.14% to settle at 23,545.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 215.67 points, or 0.45%, to finish at 47,739.32. Weighing on stock sentiment was the 10-year Treasury yield continuing its recent run higher. The benchmark has moved up this month despite the likelihood that the Fed is going to cut this week as investors worried about the state of inflation in the new year and whether the central bank will be able to continue easing.
Gold fell to around $4,460 per ounce on Thursday, giving back some gains from the previous session as the US dollar strengthened ahead of key US jobs data. Investors are anticipating stronger nonfarm payrolls in December, while unemployment is expected to remain steady. The latest report could influence monetary policy expectations for this year, with markets currently pricing in two reductions. Meanwhile, the metal is still heading for a weekly gain of about 3%, supported by escalating geopolitical risks that have bolstered safe-haven demand. President Trump warned of a strong response to potential Iranian violence against protesters, a statement that followed recent US actions in Venezuela and subsequent threats to seize control of Greenland using military force.
WTI crude oil futures rose to around $58.3 per barrel on Friday, building on a more than 3% gain in the previous session, the largest since last October, as markets continued to weigh geopolitical risks. President Donald Trump warned Iran of a “hard” response if its government caused protesters to lose their lives, reigniting concerns over potential supply disruptions from one of OPEC’s largest producers. Traders also digested news that Senator Lindsey Graham said Trump approved a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill targeting countries buying discounted Russian oil that funds Moscow’s war. Meanwhile, US actions in Venezuela remained in focus after Washington seized two oil tankers linked to the country in the Atlantic, including one flying a Russian flag, highlighting Trump’s intensified efforts to control energy flows in the Americas and pressure Venezuela’s socialist government. For the week, oil is on track for a third consecutive advance.
China’s consumer inflation accelerated in December to the fastest pace in nearly three years as spending picked up ahead of the New Year holiday, while factory-gate deflation remained entrenched, signalling that underlying demand stayed weak. Consumer prices rose 0.8% from a year earlier, their highest level since February 2023, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. The improvement followed a 0.7% climb in November and matched the economists’ expectations in a Reuters poll. The rebound in consumer prices was largely driven by fresh vegetables, which rose 18.2% from a year earlier due to supply shortages during the cold winter. Among other food items, pork prices fell 14.6%. Core inflation, which excludes volatile prices of food and energy, was up 1.2% year on year in December, unchanged from the growth in the prior month.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday pressed the administration’s desire for lower interest rates, saying they are the key to future economic growth. In a speech he will deliver before the Economic Club of Minnesota, Bessent backed President Donald Trump’s economic agenda and said easier monetary policy will help pave the way for gains ahead. “Cutting interest rates will have a tangible impact on the lives of every Minnesotan,” he said, according to excerpts obtained in an official draft from an administration source. “It is the only ingredient missing for even stronger economic growth. Which is why the Fed should not delay.” “I believe the Fed needs to have merely an open mind. The open-mind maestro, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, resisted premature rate hikes during the technology boom of the 1990s—and history proved him right,” Bessent said.
The Senate on Thursday voted 52-47 to block President Donald Trump from further military action in Venezuela. The move came less than a week after Trump authorized a strike that captured the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro. The measure, known as a War Powers Resolution, only needed a simple majority to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate and would require Trump to seek the approval of Congress before using the U.S. military again in Venezuela. The measure was brought by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. The vote in the Senate was procedural, but it indicates that the measure has the votes to pass when it comes to a final vote in the Senate. It would then go to the House, where Republicans have a razor-thin majority.
Five Democratic-led states sued U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday challenging its decision to freeze their access to more than $10 billion in federal childcare and family assistance funds based on what it said were concerns about fraud in their welfare systems. California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday said it had restricted their access to the funds pending further review. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. HHS also said it had frozen the five states’ access to $869 million in social services grant funding. All three programs are overseen by the Administration for Children and Families, an agency within the department.
China said Thursday it will investigate Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus to assess its compliance with export control laws. Meta acquired Singapore-based Manus last month as the U.S. tech giant looks to integrate advanced automation into its consumer and enterprise products. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but the Wall Street Journal reported that the deal closed at an amount over $2 billion, according to sources familiar with the acquisition. China’s Ministry of Commerce said it will conduct an assessment and investigation into how the acquisition complies with laws and regulations concerning export controls, technology import and export, and overseas investment, according to a statement translated by Google.
Global defense stocks rallied on Thursday, extending gains after U.S. President Donald Trump called for a $1.5 trillion defense budget in 2027. “After the long and difficult negotiations with Senators, Congressmen, Secretaries, and other Political Representatives, I have determined that, for the Good of our Country, especially in these very troubled and dangerous times, our Military Budget for the year 2027 should not be $1 Trillion Dollars, rather $1.5 Trillion Dollars,” he wrote in a TruthSocial post late Wednesday. “This will allow us to build the “Dream Military” that we have long been entitled to, and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe.”
Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday that it has reached an agreement with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to cut drug prices for Americans in exchange for exemptions from U.S. tariffs. The Trump administration in December reached agreements with nine other major pharmaceutical companies to cut the prices of their medicines for the government’s Medicaid program and for cash-paying consumers, aiming to bring U.S. drug costs in line with those in other wealthy countries. U.S. patients currently pay far more for prescription medicines, often nearly three times more than in other developed nations, and Trump has been pressuring drugmakers to lower prices to levels paid abroad. "The joint agreement meets the requests laid out by President Trump to the industry and provides the company’s pharmaceutical products an exemption from tariffs," J&J said in a statement on Thursday.
CrowdStrike said on Thursday it would buy identity security startup SGNL in a deal valued at $740 million aiming to enhance its cybersecurity tools to help customers counter artificial intelligence-powered threats. The cybersecurity company looks to benefit from SGNL’s "continuous identity" technology to prevent hackers from exploiting user identities as entry points for data theft with constant evaluations at a time when businesses are increasingly granting autonomous access to AI agents. CrowdStrike entered the identity security market with its acquisition of Pre-empt Security in 2020. Its identity business had generated more than $435 million in annual recurring revenue as of the second quarter of fiscal 2026. "We have already a big business there. And now what SGNL provides to us is really an identity fabric. And if we think about the threat environments, the adversaries aren’t breaking in; they’re logging in, and they’re abusing identity," - CrowdStrike CEO