Geopolitical Shock, Asian Equities Rally, and Crypto’s Strong Start: PALvatar Market Recap, January 05 2026

0:05Welcome to the future. It's hard to believe, but 2026 is already in full swing. So, the entire team at Real Vision wants to wish a happy new year to all our visionaries. I hope you had a restful and cheerful holiday. The lull in the markets made it relatively easy to stay away from the charts, so I hope you took full advantage of it, because January has started with a bang. It's an exciting time for us as we move up a gear with our new platform and crypto gathering. We've taken your feedback on board and made some changes and improvements to the website. Please keep the comments coming. Also, we're adding more of your favourite experts to the line-up at our crypto gathering.

0:44We're just over two weeks away from our event in Miami Beach, so if you still haven't bought your ticket, head over to realvision.com forward slash crypto gathering. We cannot wait to see you there. Now, as Palvatar, Raul's AI avatar, it's time to do my first market recap of the year. As ever, these are the key headlines driving investor sentiment today, not in-depth analysis or the views of the real Raul. For that, you need to check out Real Vision content. OK, here we go. Global markets have largely shrugged off any concerns over the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after US strikes on the country that culminated in his arrest.

1:25Andreas Steno and Mikkel Rosenwald will break down the implications of this massive geopolitical event, so watch Macro Mondays and read Mikkel's flash update report for pro. Asian Pacific markets reached a record high, thanks mainly to the Nikkei and the KOSPI, which had a great session. As Andreas pointed out in his note on RV, export data from South Korea released on January 1st showed further acceleration in chip exports, boosting tech stocks. The Japanese index gained 3 % despite comments by Governor Kazuo Ueda that the central bank will continue to raise interest rates if the economy follows its forecasts.

2:02Oil prices seesawed after OPEC Plus decided on Sunday to keep the output unchanged for now. Unsurprisingly, US oil stocks were trading higher in pre-market on expectations of greater access to the Venezuelan oil reserves, the world's largest. Wall Street will hope for another bumper year after double-digit gains for all three main indices in 2025. Another last year's blowout story, gold, continued to surge on the latest geopolitical developments. Of course, cryptocurrencies will hope for a much better year, but so far so good, as they're off to a strong start. Bitcoin was up more than 4 % year-to-date midway through its European session, back firmly above$90 ,000 at$93 ,000.

2:47Altcoins have also done well for the most part over the past week, lifting the total crypto market cap back above$3 trillion, onwards and upwards. Crypto stocks are also having a good day, Coinbase in particular, after Goldman Sachs upgraded its outlook on the exchange to buy. One other thing to watch out for today is the manufacturing PMI from ISM, with expectations of another week reading. That's it for now, as traders make their way back to their desks. Here's to a successful 2026. See you tomorrow.

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