2026-01-05 08:20
publication
2026-01-05 08:20
In the markets' first reaction to the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, gold and silver futures surged on Monday morning as investors priced in a further rise in international tensions. At the same time, oil became cheaper. Asian stocks, on the other hand, continued the AI bull run, reaching new highs.
On January 5 at 7:30 a.m., the most active series of gold futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange was valued at $4,434 per ounce, up 2.42% from Friday's market close. At the same time, silver prices increased by over 6%, with a valuation of $75.32. per ounce.
Precious metals continued their rally, and the latest catalyst for growth was the weekend events in Caracas. US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that Americans had captured Venezuela's leader, President Nicolas Maduro, and his wife. They were both taken to New York to face trial for drug and terrorism-related crimes.
We will govern the country until we achieve a safe, appropriate and sensible transition. We don't want to get involved in someone else taking power and we would have the same situation as we have had for many years – said Donald Trump during Saturday's press conference regarding the capture of Maduro.
Precious metals are rising, oil is cheaper
As Bloomberg's sources assessed on Monday, the US attack on Venezuela increases geopolitical uncertainty and, among other things, for this reason, demand for precious metals remains strong.
Gold just completed its best year since 1979, setting a number of records, supported by central bank purchases and inflows into ETFs. Most leading banks expect that the royal metal will also have a successful 2026. Goldman Sachs' base scenario is an increase in the price of the metal to $4,900 per ounce.
At the same time, on Monday, January 5, crude oil became cheaper. Brent crude oil futures fell by about 0.5% to $60.43 per barrel before 8:00 a.m. At that time, WTI crude oil decreased by 0.75% and cost $56.89 per barrel.
Donald Trump announced that he hopes that aAmerican companies will rebuild the destroyed Venezuelan oil industry. The country has the world's largest proven oil reserves. According to experts However, its refining is not an easy task, and increasing the extraction of the raw material would involve billions of dollars in expenses.and.
The impact of the situation in Venezuela on the oil market is limited because the country has so far been highly isolated in terms of exporting the raw material. The US naval blockade has almost completely stopped the export of raw materials, and storage tanks in the country are on the verge of overflowing. Possible political changes in Caracas and the establishment of cooperation with the Americans could increase the oversupply of oil on global markets, but at the moment it is difficult to assess the likelihood of such a scenario.
Asian markets are breaking records
While the eyes of the world were focused on South America and US politics, investors in Asian markets focused on technology stocks. The MSCI regional index set a new all-time high on Monday, driven by the quotations of Samsung Electronics and TSMC. Japan's TOPIX rose 2%.
We are seeing the strongest start to the year in 13 years on Asian stock exchanges. Investors seem to be ignoring geopolitical concerns and are looking at growing investments from technology companies. – AI remains by far the most dominant factor in the markets at the moment – commented Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets, for Bloomberg TV – technological optimism continues to overshadow all other narratives currently present in the markets – added the expert.
Prepared by MM
