The apparent success of the US seizure of Maduro and potential US access to Venezuelan oil see the price of crude oil continuing to trade lower.
- The major story as the first fully online new week of 2026 begins is the American operation in Venezuela over the weekend which ended with the arrest of President Maduro and his incarceration in New York pending criminal charges. President Trump seems to feel the operation achieved its goals and that "the US will control Venezuela" for a while, although the Vice President has assumed office. It looks as if something has been worked out and Venezuela will be more in the US orbit now and away from China, Russia, and Iran - each of which had reasons to use Venezuela against the USA and its allies. The price of Crude Oil has reacted by trading lower, above $56 per barrel. Some analysts see the change in Venezuela as having the potential to send WTI Crude Oil below $50 per barrel, which would have catastrophic fiscal consequences for Russia.
- Perhaps building on the recent proof that he might not be bluffing, President Trump made a clear threat against the Colombian government, while also putting out the message that Cuba might soon fall - a more passive threat. Finally, Trump declared that the USA must possess Greenland for its "national security". Both Denmark and the local administration, as sovereign powers, have made it clear several times that Greenland is not for sale or delivery to the USA. It is hard to imagine the USA just seizing Greenland, so the idea is probably to float the idea and its potential benefits to the Greenlandic population.
- Precious metals and to a lesser extent stock markets are getting a bit of a bump higher today. Yet both asset classes remain well off their recent highs. Gold is trading well above $4,400 which may be technically significant.
- In the Forex market, since today's Tokyo open, the strongest major currency has been the US Dollar, and the weakest has been the Canadian Dollar, putting the USD/CAD currency pair in focus today. The USD/JPY currency pair has been in a technical long-term trend for quite a while, but now seems to be moving higher more decisively, although it has given up its earlier gains above ¥157.
- Governor Ueda of the Bank of Japan saw the Yen was falling in early trading and made a common threat that the Bank will hike rates again, which may have helped to dampen the move.
- There will be a release of ISM Manufacturing PMI data in the USA today.