Business
Asian stocks rise to extend record global rally
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index extended its advance to a fourth day, led by a 1% gain for the Nikkei 225 Index. Shares edged lower in South Korea and Australia. Equity-index futures pointed to gains for China after shares rallied on Wall Street, with megacaps such as Amazon.com Inc. and Tesla Inc. among the winners.
Gold and silver gave up some of the gains that came after the US capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. Treasuries steadied after the 10-year yield fell three basis points on Monday, when a report showed US manufacturing activity shrank in December by the most since 2024. That supported the case for more easing by the Federal Reserve.
“The bullish case for equities remains intact,” said Adrian Helfert, chief investment officer at Westwood. “Broader market leadership should look past Venezuela entirely unless cascading geopolitical events emerge.”
This is poised to be a “strong year” for risk assets — the triumvirate of easing fiscal, monetary, and regulatory policy should work together in a pro-cyclical way, Morgan Stanley’s Serena Tang and Seth Carpenter wrote in a note Monday.
For stocks, the main themes, in the US especially, will be stronger earnings growth and broadening leadership, while AI financing and a revival of M&A will take center stage in credit markets. The analysts are overweight on global equities.
“Macro concerns still matter, but micro will become a larger driver of asset returns in this cyclical recovery,” they said.The bullish attitude showed up in equity derivatives as well.
A “mix of momentum chasing and rebound plays reflects a more constructive tone than most of 2025, with sentiment and positioning turning decisively less bearish,” said derivatives strategist Chris Murphy of Susquehanna International Group, in a note Monday. “That optimism is showing up clearly in options activity, where upside structures dominate and consistent with a market increasingly positioned for strength rather than defense.”
Markets closely followed the developments in Venezuela, with Brent crude rising 1.7% to $61.76 a barrel. Chevron Corp. shares traded higher, alongside other US oil majors, after President Donald Trump floated plans for a US-led revival of Venezuela’s industry.
Venezuela’s deeply discounted bonds traded higher after the capture of Maduro set the stage for the potential regime change that investors have been betting on.
Defaulted notes from the sovereign and state-run oil company PDVSA have already more than doubled to between 23 and 33 cents on the dollar in the past few months as Trump ramped up pressure.
