U.S. Futures Suggest Tech Rally Will Continue, Though Global Markets Falter

By Dow Jones Newswires Staff

U.S. futures rose as a tech rally sparked by record earnings for artificial-intelligence linchpin Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company looks set to continue. Exuberance faded in Asia, however, as Japanese stocks slipped and the yen rallied after the country's finance minister promised to intervene to support the falling currency. European indexes followed their Asian counterparts lower, as a slip in oil prices and precious metals dragged on miners. Those nonyielding assets fell as lower-than-expected U.S. jobless claims data Thursday, paired with strong Philadelphia Fed and Empire manufacturing surveys, supported expectations that a further Federal Reserve rate cut is unlikely in the immediate term. Geopolitical concerns retreated into the background, as the prospect of imminent direct U.S. intervention in Iran faded.

Investors will look to December's industrial production and capacity utilization data for a further health check on the U.S. economy, while speeches from the Federal Reserve's Michelle Bowman and Philip Jefferson will be parsed for signals on the open market committee's interest-rate policy.

--In U.S. premarket trading, the tech-heavy Nasdaq continued its positive momentum as futures for the index climbed 0.4%. Nvidia and Broadcom both gained around 0.9% premarket, while futures for AMD rose 2.9%. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were up 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively.

--Stocks in Asia were down as Japan's Nikkei 225 retreated from record highs hit earlier this week to fall 0.3%, its second consecutive losing day, as pharmaceutical, shipping and energy stocks dragged. The country's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Friday that the country wouldn't rule out any options to counter the yen's recent sharp falls, supporting Japanese sovereigns but hitting exporters. Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.3%. China's benchmark Shanghai Composite lost 0.3%.

--European indexes fell at the opening bell as miners and banks slipped. Spain's IBEX 35 was down 0.1% as oil major Repsol continues to decline, while the banks that dominate the index fell. Defense company Indra Sistemas was a bright spot, rising 2.9%. In London, the FTSE 100--fresh from another record close Thursday--fell 0.2% even as defense stocks rebounded, with miners dragging the index down. Rio Tinto dropped 2%, while Anglo American and Glencore fell 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively. The German DAX was flat as energy stocks climbed--Siemens Energy gained 2.7%--as chemical manufacturers fell. In Paris, the CAC 40 slipped 0.1%, continuing to slide from record highs reached last week, and the Italian FTSE MIB lost 0.15%. Mediobanca and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena both dropped around 2.8% on reports of a dispute between the Sienese bank's chief executive and a key investor.

--The dollar pulled back slightly after reaching a six-week high Thursday as the yen strengthened. The DXY dollar index traded marginally lower at 99.307 after hitting a high of 99.492 Thursday on strong economic data.

-- U.S. long-dated Treasury yields rose, while short-end yields edged lower in Asian afternoon trade, causing the Treasury curve to steepen. The two-year Treasury yield edged lower 0.5 basis point to 3.558%; the 10-year Treasury yield was up 0.6 basis point at 4.165%; and the 30-year yield rose 0.9 basis point to 4.794%. In Europe, government bond yield spreads between peripheral eurozone countries and German Bunds tightened further, with Italian and Spanish spreads reaching new milestones and hitting levels unseen since 2008, according to LSEG. The 10-year Italian BTP-German Bund yield spread traded as low as 59 basis points, while the 10-year Spanish-German yield spread fell to 39 basis points.

--Bitcoin edged lower as traders took profits after the cryptocurrency's recent rally. The pullback comes amid uncertainty over a U.S. bill that aims to create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. The Senate Banking Committee postponed a debate scheduled for Thursday on the bill after industry opposition. Lawmakers are now working on a compromise to revive the bill. Bitcoin fell 0.1% to $95,491, having reached a two-month high of $97,866 on Wednesday.

--Oil prices were mixed in early trading as traders weighed risks of supply disruptions, though concerns over imminent U.S. military action in Iran have faded. "While risks have eased somewhat, they remain significant, keeping the market nervous in the short term," ING analysts said. "However, the longer this goes on without any U.S. intervention, the risk premium will continue to fade, allowing more bearish fundamentals to dominate." Meanwhile, the ICE Brent prompt timespread--the price difference between near-term and later-dated Brent contracts--suggested some supply tightness in the spot market, likely due to reduced oil exports from Kazakhstan through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal, the analysts said. Brent crude slipped 0.1% to $63.70 a barrel, while WTI rose 0.5% to $58.47 a barrel.

--Gold prices slipped on the falling probability of imminent Fed interest-rate cuts. Futures in New York fell 0.3% to $4,608.40 a troy ounce, also weighed down by easing demand for safe-haven assets as fears of imminent U.S. military action in Iran faded. Bullion, however, is still on track for a weekly gain of more than 2% after hitting a record high earlier this week. Meanwhile, silver futures were down 1.5% to $90.97 after the Trump administration held off on imposing import tariffs on critical minerals, but the precious metal is up nearly 15% on the week.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 16, 2026 04:40 ET (09:40 GMT)