New York, Jan 5, 2026, 09:49 EST — Regular session
- The Dow rose about 1.1% in early trade, lifted by a surge in energy shares after U.S. action in Venezuela.
- Chevron climbed while technology shares steadied, keeping the blue-chip index in positive territory.
- Traders are watching Jan. 9 U.S. jobs data and a return to a fuller economic calendar after shutdown-related delays.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed about 520 points, or 1.1%, to around 48,903 on Monday morning as energy stocks surged after Washington said U.S. forces captured Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro.
The move gave Wall Street a clear early tone for the first full week of 2026, after thin holiday trading left investors hungry for fresh direction and catalysts beyond year-end positioning.
“The market is looking for direction,” Matthew Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, said, as traders weigh geopolitics against a looming run of U.S. data and the start of earnings season. Inc
Broader U.S. equities also pushed higher. The S&P 500 rose about 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite gained about 0.7%, while benchmark 10-year Treasury yields eased.
Energy shares did much of the heavy lifting. Chevron, the only U.S. oil major operating in Venezuela under a waiver, rose in early trade after President Donald Trump said U.S. companies wanted to invest in rebuilding Venezuela’s battered oil infrastructure.
Oil prices held broadly steady despite the headlines, a sign traders are treating the Venezuela shock as a longer-term “structural” story rather than an immediate supply squeeze in a well-supplied market. Reuters
Outside energy, gains were less uniform — the kind of tape traders expect in a price-weighted index like the Dow, where higher-priced components can swing the benchmark more than smaller-priced names. Apple shares slipped while some megacap and semiconductor names held firmer.
Rates remain the other key lever. Fed funds futures — derivatives that reflect investors’ expectations for where the Federal Reserve’s policy rate is headed — are pricing little chance of a cut at the Fed’s late-January meeting, with roughly a coin-flip probability of a quarter-point reduction in March, according to Reuters calculations based on futures pricing.
That makes Friday’s Jan. 9 U.S. employment report a potential market mover. Economists polled by Reuters expect 55,000 jobs were added in December, and a weaker-than-expected print could revive recession worries even as it strengthens the case for lower rates.
There are risks in the other direction too. A firmer jobs number or renewed inflation pressure could push yields higher and test equity valuations just as the market braces for major corporate updates, including the Jan. 13 consumer price index report and earnings from JPMorgan and other big banks.
For now, Dow traders are watching whether the index can hold above the 48,500 area and challenge the round-number 49,000 level — but the next clear catalyst is Friday’s U.S. jobs report on Jan. 9.
