Markets Enter Caution Mode: China, Precious Metals, and Bitcoin
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed ahead of the release of Chinese factory activity data for January. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.13% and the Topix gained 0.52%, while South Korea took a hit: the Kospi fell more than 2.5% and the Kosdaq fell as much as 3%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.57%, while Hang Seng futures were at 27,330, slightly below their last close of 27,387.11.
The risk-off sentiment intensified after a sharp drop in precious metals on Friday. Silver—which has more than doubled in the past 12 months—plunged about 30% in a single day (its worst since 1980), while gold fell about 9%. This morning, spot gold was last at around $4,744/ounce and silver was around $80/ounce, making investors increasingly sensitive to volatility and starting to reduce risk.
Risk-off sentiment spread to riskier assets, particularly Bitcoin, which briefly fell below $80,000 for the first time since April and last traded around $76,700. Simultaneously, Wall Street futures weakened early in the Asian session: Dow futures fell 143 points (about 0.3%), S&P 500 futures fell 0.6%, and Nasdaq-100 futures fell nearly 1%.
From Friday's US session, stocks fell again as the technology sector remained sluggish, even though the market was relatively accepting of Donald Trump's choice of Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 closed down 0.43% to 6,939.03, the Dow fell 0.36% to 48,892.47, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.94% to 23,461.82. The bottom line: the market opens the new month in "test of the water" mode—its next direction will largely be determined by Chinese data and whether the gold-silver correction and bitcoin weakness halt or continue. (asd)
Source: Newsmaker.id
