Stock markets entered the new year with a considerable amount of optimism and new records.
Dow Jones is on the threshold of a new milestone, the value of 50 thousand points.
The first days of 2026 were marked by the news that the US had captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in an attack on Venezuela. The reaction on the stock markets could have been negative due to the new escalation of geopolitical tensions, but that did not happen. Shares of US energy companies have risen particularly sharply, as well as the value of Venezuelan shares (by 30 percent in the last month, the main index of the Caracas stock market has jumped by as much as 300 percent), and also government bonds, because the probability of restructuring the national debt is now much higher.
Index explosion in Caracas
In New York last week, all major indexes rose, and the Russell 2000 rose the most, by almost five percent. The geopolitical uncertainty surrounding the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro did not have a negative impact on world markets either. On the contrary, the Venezuelan stock market exploded, and the value of the stock market index in Caracas more than doubled this week. The US central bank is in the process of reducing key interest rates, further supporting the world’s largest economy. The US will hold midterm elections this year – elections for seats in Congress, where Republicans currently hold a majority in both chambers. Of course, Trump will do everything he can to keep it that way, because otherwise it would significantly complicate the implementation of his policies and reduce his influence, reports SEEbiz. In this context, it is not unimportant that the stock market is high, because the state of the stock market is often one of the important topics in American election campaigns.
Risk appetite
While stocks have risen in price following the events in Venezuela, indicating investors’ appetite for risk, the price of precious metals has also risen significantly in recent days, indicating that some investors are still looking for a safe haven. Silver rebounded, reaching the $80 per ounce mark once again. The growth of precious metals was also influenced by the news that the American economy created a net 50,000 jobs in December, which is slightly less than expected (the unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent), which increases the chances that the Fed will further lower interest rates. Cryptocurrencies also rose in the first days of 2026, bitcoin rose above 92 thousand dollars, but then calmed down. Inflows into U.S. ETFs at the spot price of bitcoin were negative from Tuesday through Friday, with a total “negative balance” of nearly $1.5 billion.
Impressive CES in Las Vegas
Between January 6 and 9, attention was also focused on the largest electronics fair, CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, where there was no concern that the artificial intelligence sector is in a bubble, although the capital investments of the largest AI companies are extremely high – this year they are expected to invest an additional 500 billion dollars (mostly in the construction of new data centers). If we ignore next-generation chips (Nvidia announced at the fair that the Vera Rubin platform will be available in the second half of this year), the exhibition spaces were mostly occupied by humanoid robots, which impressed the visitors, because they can already do almost anything, even perform complex surgical procedures. Many futuristic products (for example, flying cars) were on display, so the fair offers an excellent view of what awaits humanity in the near future.
