LONDON, January 22, 2026, 12:32 GMT
- Wall Street notched its strongest session in two months once Trump stepped back from tariff threats linked to Greenland
- Asian shares climbed, driven by tech, as South Korea’s Kospi momentarily surged past 5,000
- Gold slipped off record highs while volatility dropped, with traders shifting focus to earnings reports and central bank moves
Global shares climbed on Thursday following U.S. President Donald Trump’s softened approach toward Greenland, calming a wave of market jitters that had rattled stocks, bonds, and currencies.
The relief is significant since the previous tariff threats had reignited trade-war concerns, coming at a time when investors are assessing if corporate earnings can support lofty stock valuations.
It arrives amid a week packed with policy moves, central banks, and inflation figures taking center stage. Traders, meanwhile, remain wary of sudden shifts triggered by geopolitical developments.
Wall Street surged Wednesday, with the S&P 500 climbing 1.16%, the Dow adding 588.64 points, and the Nasdaq rising 1.18%. The rally followed Trump’s announcement that a Greenland and Arctic deal framework means tariffs scheduled for Feb. 1 won’t be imposed. Strong bank earnings pushed the regional banking index to its highest close since November 2024. Halliburton and United Airlines also rose on solid results and forecasts, while Netflix dipped after issuing a cautious outlook. “What is the economic impact is whether we all start imposing tariffs on each other,” said Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede. (Reuters)
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.7% to 53,688.89 on Thursday, while South Korea’s Kospi closed up 0.9% at 4,952.44, after briefly breaking the 5,000 mark for the first time, led by tech stocks. SoftBank Group soared 11.6%, and Disco Corp jumped 17.1% in Japan. Over in Seoul, SK Hynix added 2% and Samsung Electronics climbed 1.9%. Hong Kong and Shanghai markets saw little movement. (The Middletown Press)
European stocks bounced back, with the pan-European STOXX index gaining over 1% in early trading. The VIX volatility index — known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — also eased. Gold fell from record highs, settling near $4,829 an ounce, while the euro held steady around $1.17 as investors eyed a Bank of Japan meeting, U.S. core PCE data — a key inflation metric for the Fed — and upcoming earnings from Intel and Procter & Gamble. Michael Metcalfe of State Street noted that markets can “look through” headline volatility, while Damian Rooney of Argonaut confirmed the “TACO” trade — Wall Street slang for “Trump Always Chickens Out” — remains “certainly real.” (Reuters)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said allies must boost Arctic security under the Greenland framework, telling Reuters he had “no doubt we can do this quite fast.” Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen insisted that Greenland’s sovereignty isn’t on the negotiating table with NATO, though she welcomed talks on Arctic security. Dirk Jandura, president of Germany’s wholesale and export association BGA, cautioned that “What President Trump announces today may be obsolete tomorrow,” emphasizing that reliability is key for investment and growth. (Reuters)
Calm, however, might prove fleeting. The framework reveals little in the way of public details, and traders who piled into hedges earlier this week could hesitate to unwind if tariff tensions resurface.
Trump’s weekend warning of 10% tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland sparked Tuesday’s dip in U.S. stocks—until he backtracked at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, controls key Arctic sea routes and holds valuable mineral deposits.
