Log in to our mid-week North American Markets overview, where we examine the current themes in North America and provide an overview of indices and currency performances.
Traders are officially getting back to work after a well-deserved winter holiday break. Hope that you all had wonderful Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Markets are already getting what they wanted in terms of volatility and news with the capture of Venezuela’s President/Dictator Nicolas Maduro, leading to significant gaps on the Monday open and massive rallies across all asset classes.
With the Trump Administration following up the capture with threats to other Latin American countries like Colombia or Mexico, and even more deranging, threats to Greenland, we can expect quite an adventurous 2026 trading.
This created a boost to the Freedom Trade, which added a significant boost to Stocks, pushing the Dow Jones and S&P 500 to new record highs and further driving demand for Metals, as safe-haven demand also makes considerable sense.
Wall Street is loving these flows, in any case, with a sense of rebound in confidence in US strength, as US exceptionalism can even cross borders to protect US Interests.
Banks and investors are uncertain about how to proceed with the new fundamental data, as the impact of the latest geopolitical developments has yet to be fully felt.
This also combines with quite uncertain US inflation and economic outlooks, leaving a still cloudy picture of a Fed rate cut.
