Global Stock Markets Rise, Investors Monitor Trump’s Moves, European Investors Cautious

Last week, stock prices on global markets increased, with the European STOXX 600 index reaching record levels, largely due to investors’ hopes for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones rose by 0.5 percent to 44,546 points, while the S&P 500 increased by 1.5 percent to 6,114 points, and the Nasdaq index climbed by 2.6 percent to 20,026 points. After two weeks of decline, these indices were primarily boosted last week by the recovery in stock prices of several tech giants, such as Nvidia, Tesla, and Apple, which had been under pressure in previous weeks.

The market was also positively influenced by the postponement of tariff implementation.

Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would impose tariffs on imports from all countries that charge tariffs on U.S. products.

It was expected that this would happen last week, but the White House stated that it is still analyzing which countries should have tariffs imposed or increased, and that conclusions will be known soon.

While he postponed those tariffs, Trump signed a decision to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from 10 to 25 percent, which spurred the rise in stock prices of U.S. steel manufacturers.

Investor optimism was also fueled by hopes that the war between Russia and Ukraine could soon end, after Trump spoke with the presidents of both countries and announced peace negotiations.

Thanks to all this, news about rising inflation in January in the U.S. took a back seat, indicating that the U.S. central bank has little room for further interest rate cuts.

Caution in Europe

On European markets, trading was cautious on Monday morning, with indices stagnating as investors monitored the developments regarding peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. The STOXX 600 index of leading European stocks was up 0.1 percent at 9:30 AM, hovering around record levels.

This morning, the London FTSE index rose by 0.12 percent to 8,740 points, while the Frankfurt DAX increased by 0.25 percent to 22,570 points. The Paris CAC, on the other hand, weakened by 0.07 percent to 8,175 points.

Caution prevails on the markets as investors watch the developments regarding peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, which could start this week in Saudi Arabia, while tensions exist between the EU and the U.S. over disagreements on how these negotiations should be conducted.

On most Asian markets, stock prices fell on Monday, and the value of the dollar against a basket of currencies stagnated as investors monitored the developments regarding peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Most Asian Markets Declined

The MSCI index of Asian stocks was nearly unchanged at 7:00 AM compared to Friday.

The Japanese Nikkei index rose by 0.1 percent, while stock prices in South Korea increased by 0.7 percent. In Australia, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, however, prices fell between 0.2 and 1 percent.

After a strong rise last week, the Hong Kong Hang Seng index significantly dropped this morning as the euphoria surrounding artificial intelligence developments, recently spurred by the success of AI solutions from the Chinese startup DeepSeek in the West, subsided. Meanwhile, the Tokyo stock market was in a good mood after it was announced that Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew more than expected in the last quarter of last year, by 2.8 percent year-on-year.

However, a significant rise in Japanese stock prices is being hindered by the strengthening of the yen against the dollar, making Japanese export products more expensive in the West. On other markets in the region, trading is cautious as investors monitor the developments regarding peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, which could start this week in Saudi Arabia.

Dollar Stagnates, Oil Prices Rise

On the currency markets, the value of the dollar against a basket of currencies stagnated after it fell by 1.2 percent last week.

The dollar index, which shows the value of the U.S. dollar against the other six major world currencies, is around 106.84 points this morning, compared to 106.80 points on Friday evening. The exchange rate of the dollar against the Japanese currency slid from 152.30 to 151.55 yen.

However, the U.S. currency slightly strengthened against the European currency, causing the price of the euro to drop to 1.0480 dollars, down from 1.0490 dollars on Friday evening.

Oil prices, on the other hand, have slightly risen. The price of a barrel on the London market increased by 0.19 percent to 74.90 dollars, while on the U.S. market, a barrel rose by 0.05 percent to 70.80 dollars.