NEW YORK, January 2, 2026, 10:39 ET
- U.S. stocks opened higher on the first trading day of 2026 after a choppy year-end.
- Asian shares rose with Hong Kong and South Korea leading gains as chipmakers advanced.
- Gold and silver extended sharp gains as traders watched the Fed outlook and key U.S. data ahead.
Wall Street’s main indexes opened higher on Friday, kicking off 2026 on an upbeat note after a late-December pullback. The Dow rose 42.7 points to 48,105.98 at the opening bell, while the S&P 500 gained 32.6 points to 6,878.11 and the Nasdaq added 239.5 points to 23,481.49.
Investors are bracing for a heavy stretch of catalysts that could reset rate expectations, including the monthly U.S. jobs report on Jan. 9 and consumer price inflation data on Jan. 13, as fourth-quarter earnings season begins with major banks. Fed funds futures — derivatives that reflect where traders expect the Federal Reserve’s policy rate to land — suggest little chance of a cut at the late-January meeting and nearly a 50% probability of a quarter-point reduction in March. “Anything that has to do with underlying economic activity and inflation is really going to catch the market’s attention,” said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. Reuters
The first full week of the year often brings sharper moves as liquidity returns and portfolio managers rebalance positions. Traders are also weighing how long last year’s rally can keep running as valuations stay elevated and policy risk remains in focus.
In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 pushed through the 10,000-point mark and was up 0.5% by mid-morning in London, with defense and aerospace shares leading gains. Rolls-Royce climbed 2.9% and banks also rose, while construction and real estate stocks slipped after data showed UK house prices fell 0.4% in December.
Asian equities opened 2026 higher, led by Hong Kong and South Korea as technology stocks advanced, while Japan and mainland China stayed shut for holidays. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose about 2% and South Korea’s KOSPI gained 1.3%, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix up between 2.5% and 4%.
The new year begins after a powerful 2025 run for U.S. benchmarks, leaving investors sensitive to any shift in rates or earnings momentum. The S&P 500 rose more than 16% in 2025, while the Nasdaq Composite gained more than 20%, according to Yahoo Finance.
Index futures — contracts that allow investors to position for where stock indexes may open — had pointed to stronger gains in the tech-heavy Nasdaq than the broader market, mirroring the leadership seen at the end of last year.
In commodities and currencies, spot gold — the cash price for immediate delivery — rose 1.6% to $4,384 an ounce and spot silver jumped 4.3% to $74.37. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.3% to $60.62 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 0.4% to $57.20; the yen held near 156.86 per dollar as traders stayed alert for possible intervention by Japanese authorities to support the currency.
Gold’s surge last year marked its biggest annual rise in decades, and bullion bulls have pointed to central bank demand and expectations for lower rates as support. The metal’s move has also fed interest in other precious metals, which can be more volatile because they trade in thinner markets.
Single-stock moves are also shaping early sentiment. Tesla said quarterly deliveries fell more than expected and it lost the title of the world’s top electric-vehicle maker to China’s BYD, though Tesla shares were marginally higher in early trading.
Elsewhere in Asia, holiday-thinned trading kept broad moves contained, but Australia’s benchmark edged higher and Singapore’s Straits Times index also gained, according to Investing.com.
