Monday, February 9, 2026…4:10 PM ET
[4:00 PM ET closing prices for stocks; 3:50ish for commodities and bonds.]
Solid day in the markets, the Dow Jones at another new high, while Gold and Silver had strong rallies, though Natural Gas fell hard on the warmer weather forecast across much of the country following a wicked deep freeze this weekend across the Northeast. Man, it was freakin’ cold in my neck of the woods!
Japanese stocks surged Monday as investors embraced Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide election victory, a result seen as a green light that may further embolden her to pursue an aggressive brand of expansionary fiscal policy.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 surged 3.9% to an all-time high of 56363.
Takaichi is broadly viewed as a boon for corporate Japan because of her long-held backing of low interest rates and robust fiscal spending to stimulate growth. Last year, she pushed through a record supplementary budget and has since advanced plans for large state-led investments in creating “national champions,” companies that are leaders in strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence and semiconductor manufacturing.
Treasuries finished the day virtually unchanged from last Friday’s close, though yields were rising this morning on concerns that Chinese banks had been told by Chinese regulators to rein in their holdings of U.S. government bonds due to market volatility. India and Brazil have recently lowered their exposure to the world’s biggest bond market amid growing doubts about the appeal of U.S. assets.
Hong Kong pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison following his conviction on charges of conspiracy.
Lai was found guilty in December on counts of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiracy to publish seditious articles.
He has been a sharp critic of the ruling Chinese government and was one of more than a half-dozen defendants in the case who faced charges for alleged violations of a sweeping national security law, imposed by China, that has largely stifled dissent in the city.
Lai, 78, was first arrested in 2020, and has been in solitary confinement for over 1,800 days. It’s an outrage, and equally outrageous that Chinese President Xi is sticking it to the U.S. and Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, we have a report on December retail sales Tuesday, Wednesday’s big January jobs report that was pushed back by the partial government shutdown, and then a key inflation reading on Friday.
Lastly, a preliminary report has Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show drawing an estimated 135 million viewers, which would make it the most-watched mid-game performance ever, while about 6 million tuned into the Turning Point USA counterpart on YouTube.
Dow Jones +20, 0.04% [50135]
S&P 500 +32, 0.5% [6964]
Nasdaq +207, 0.9% [23200]
Oil (WTI) $64.25
Gold $5100
Silver $83.95
Bitcoin $70,760 [4:00 PM ET]
U.S. 2-yr. 3.49%
U.S. 10-yr. 4.20%
Japanese 10-yr. 2.27%…back to 27-year highs….
Back tomorrow.
Brian Trumbore
