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The World in a Week: How Major Markets Moved
United States | US markets ended a volatile, holiday-shortened week lower. The S&P MidCap 400 fell 0.6%, while the Dow Jones and S&P 500 declined 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively. Trade tensions drove early losses before sentiment improved midweek. GDP growth was revised up to 4.4%, while core PCE inflation stood at 2.8%. Jobless claims remained low.
Europe | European stocks fell amid trade and geopolitical uncertainty. The STOXX Europe 600 dropped 0.98%, with declines across major markets. Business activity stayed in expansion, but UK inflation surprised on the upside at 3.4%.
Japan | Japanese equities remained range-bound. Political uncertainty pushed the 10-year JGB yield to 2.26%, the highest in decades. The yen traded near 158 per dollar.
China | China’s markets were mixed. The CSI 300 fell 0.62%, while the Shanghai Composite rose just over 1%. Economic growth met the 5% target in 2025, but domestic demand remained weak.
India | Indian equities posted their worst week in four months. The Nifty 50 fell almost 2%, and the Sensex dropped by 1.8%, weighed down by foreign outflows of about $3.5 billion and mixed earnings.
Commodities | Gold remained elevated. Oil stayed range-bound. Industrial metals were mixed amid uneven global growth signals.
Stock market closing data for the week of Jan 19 to Jan 23, 2026
Index information: STOXX 600 (tracks 600 large, mid- & small-cap EU firms), DAX (top 40 German blue chips), CAC 40 (leading French stocks), Nikkei 225 (225 top Japanese stocks), CSI 300 & SSEC (mainland China A-shares), and Hang Seng (large-cap Hong Kong-listed firms). For these indices, we track 1-week returns to capture how global sentiment is shifting.
News Summaries
Silver crosses $100 an ounce
Silver crossed $100 an ounce for the first time. Spot prices touched $100.29, taking gains this year to nearly 40%, after prices more than doubled in 2025. Gold moved alongside and traded close to $5,000 an ounce.
Returns comparison: iShares Silver Trust (SLV) vs S&P 500. Source: Vested
Buying in precious metals has picked up as investors react to trade uncertainty, geopolitics, and questions around monetary policy. Concerns around possible tariffs pushed large volumes of silver into New York, tightening supply in other markets and lifting prices further.
This does not change what silver is. It is still both an investment asset and an industrial metal. What has changed is how strong demand has become across regions at the same time.
The important signal is a tight supply.
The global silver market has been in a supply deficit for five years. As prices moved higher, retail buying accelerated. In China, silver has attracted investors priced out of gold. In the US, dealer inventories have come under pressure.
When supply stays tight and demand keeps building, price moves tend to last longer than expected.
AI demand lifts Asia’s chipmakers
Demand for memory chips is picking up fast, and it is starting to show across the semiconductor sector.
SK Hynix, a key supplier to Nvidia, is seeing strong momentum as demand for high-bandwidth memory used in AI systems rises. Rivals Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology are also expanding capacity to keep up.
Micron recently said AI demand is absorbing industry capacity. That has led to tighter supply even for conventional memory used in phones and PCs, giving chipmakers more pricing power.
Early signs are already visible. Samsung’s preliminary results showed operating profit nearly tripled from a year ago. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has also planned up to $56 billion in capital spending this year, lifting sentiment across Asian chip stocks.
This does not mean every quarter will be smooth. But it does signal a broader shift.
AI demand is moving from hype to hardware, and memory chips are one of the clearest pressure points in that transition.
Intel stock drops after weak outlook
Intel shares fell about 17% after the company gave a weaker outlook and flagged ongoing manufacturing issues. First-quarter revenue guidance came in below estimates, and management said the turnaround will take time.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan said Intel is on a multiyear journey to fix execution. The key issue is low manufacturing yields, which means fewer usable chips coming out of factories. That has limited Intel’s ability to meet demand, especially for higher-margin server processors. The company also said it used up much of its inventory in the previous quarter, with supply improving only gradually through the year.
This does not mean demand is weak. Intel said demand remains solid. The problem is execution.
The bigger signal is credibility. Investors had priced in a faster recovery after a strong run in the stock. This update reset expectations. For Intel, progress now depends less on new product launches and more on whether manufacturing performance improves in a visible and sustained way.
Key Headlines of the Week
Netflix Reshapes Warner Deal as Growth Moderates | Netflix moved to an all cash acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery after its shares fell over 30 percent in three months. While Netflix grew revenue 16 percent last year, it guided to about 13 percent growth this year and free cash flow of $11 billion, below expectations. The deal strengthens long term positioning but raises regulatory and cost concerns.
Banks Face Rising Buyback Risk Under Trump | Political scrutiny of stock buybacks is spreading, with large US banks now in focus. Major lenders returned over $500 billion via buybacks over the past decade. Because bank capital plans are regulator approved, investors are beginning to price buybacks as a policy risk rather than a certainty.
US Cold Snap Disrupts Energy Output | Extreme winter weather cut North Dakota oil production by about 7 per cent, or up to 110,000 barrels per day, and threatens output in the Permian Basin. While global supply can absorb brief disruptions, prolonged outages could tighten regional oil and gas markets.
