Gold and silver surged sharply on the morning of January 19, both reaching new historic highs! Spot gold once climbed past the $4,690 per ounce mark, setting a new record high, and as of 8:28, it was up nearly 1.8%.
Spot silver broke through the $94 per ounce level, also hitting a historic peak, with intraday gains exceeding 4% at one point. Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific markets opened lower, with the Nikkei 225 Index and the TOPIX Index both falling around 1% in early trading. Sumitomo Pharma dropped more than 8%, Sumitomo Chemical declined over 5%, and SoftBank fell nearly 1.5%. The yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds rose 3.5 basis points to 2.215%, reaching its highest level since February 1999. South Korean stocks opened lower but later turned positive.
Futures for the three major U.S. stock indices trended downward, with Dow Jones futures down 0.69%, S&P 500 futures falling 0.82%, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropping 1.13%. In Europe, Euro Stoxx 50 futures and Germany's DAX index futures both declined over 1%.
The offshore yuan strengthened against the U.S. dollar, breaking through 6.96, with a gain of 0.12% for the day. The cryptocurrency market experienced a broad sell-off, with Bitcoin briefly falling below $92,000, down nearly 3% for the day, and Ethereum declining 3.5%. As of the latest update, nearly 240,000 traders across the market faced liquidations, with total liquidation amounts reaching $680 million.
On the news front, reports indicated that multiple EU countries are considering imposing tariffs on $930 billion worth of U.S. goods exported to Europe, or restricting U.S. companies' access to the EU market, in retaliation for former U.S. President Trump's tariffs on eight European countries in an effort to acquire Greenland. (Disclaimer: The content is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors proceed at their own risk.)
