Crude falls following US strike on Venezuela; European equity futures point to positive open – Newsquawk EU Market Open

US President Trump announced on Saturday that the US successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela, while he added that President Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of Venezuela.
US President Trump said they are ready to stage a second strike if necessary and had assumed a second wave was needed, but now probably not.
US President Trump signalled the US could widen its focus in the region to Cuba, and he will be meeting with House Republicans in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday. Further, Trump said it “sounds good” to him regarding whether there will be an operation in Colombia.
Crude futures fluctuated and pared most of their earlier losses after initially slumping by more than 1% as participants digested the geopolitical events from over the weekend.
APAC stocks were mostly higher as the region shrugged off the US strike on Venezuela and resumed last year’s semiconductor-led rally which lifted the KOSPI to a record high; European equity futures indicate a higher cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures up 0.7%.
Looking ahead, highlights include US ISM Manufacturing PMI (Dec).
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US TRADE
EQUITIES
US stocks closed the first trading session of 2026 somewhat mixed on Friday, with most indices in the green, although the Nasdaq was the laggard, in which it completely unwound its outperformance at the opening bell. Sectors were predominantly firmer with Energy, Industrials and Materials leading the gains. Consumer Discretionary, Communication Services and Consumer Staples lagged while Tech was flat, with the decline in Consumer Discretionary led by Tesla (TSLA) after poor Q4 delivery numbers.
SPX +0.15% at 6,856, NDX -0.17% at 25,206, DJI +0.66% at 48,382, RUT +0.96% at 2,506.
Click here for a detailed summary.
TARIFFS/TRADE
US President Trump blocked HieFo Corp’s USD 3mln acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defence specialist Emcore on Friday and ordered HieFo to divest all interests and rights in Emcore assets due to national security and China-related concerns, according to Reuters.
Irish PM Martin arrived in Beijing as part of a five-day visit aimed at boosting trade between the two countries, according to Chinese state media. There were later reports that Chinese President Xi said in a meeting with Ireland’s PM that China and the EU should take a long-term view and adhere to the positioning of partnership, while Xi also commented that unilateral bullying is undermining the international order.
US President Trump warned that he could raise tariffs on India if they don’t help on Russian oil issue.
NOTABLE HEADLINES
Fed’s Paulson (2026 voter) said she sees inflation moderating, the labour market stabilising and growth coming around 2% this year, while she added that if all of that happens, then some further adjustments to the Fed Funds Rate would likely be appropriate later in the year. Paulson said she views the current level of rates as still restrictive and sees a decent chance that they will end the year with inflation that is close to 2% on a run-rate basis, as tariff-related price adjustments will likely be completed. Furthermore, she stated that while the labour market is bending, it is not breaking and that the baseline outlook for the economy is pretty benign.
APAC TRADE
EQUITIES
APAC stocks were mostly higher as the region shrugged off the US strike on Venezuela and resumed last year’s semiconductor-led rally which lifted the KOSPI to a record high, while TSMC shares also notched firm gains after Goldman Sachs raised its price target by 35% and its ADR’s jumped late last week to become the sixth-largest company in the world by market cap.
ASX 200 was flat as gains in mining and material stocks were counterbalanced by losses in the tech and consumer sectors.
Nikkei 225 rallied on its first trading session of 2026 with notable strength in the heavy industries and semiconductor stocks.
Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp traded mixed as the Hong Kong benchmark lagged and with the mainland buoyed on return from the New Year holiday closure, which saw the Shanghai Comp reclaim the 4,000 status, while participants digested the latest RatingDog Services PMI, which matched estimates at 52.0 (prev. 52.1) and the Composite figure slightly accelerated to 51.3 (prev. 51.2).
US equity futures were mostly little changed, although kept afloat as markets shrugged off the geopolitical concerns, with marginal outperformance in E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures.
European equity futures indicate a higher cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures up 0.7% after the cash market closed with gains of 1.0% on Friday.
FX
DXY benefitted from the mild losses in its major peers and with some haven appeal following the US intervention in Venezuela, with President Trump stating that the US will ‘run’ Venezuela and ‘fix oil infrastructure’, while he also signalled potentially widening their focus in the region to Cuba and Colombia.
EUR/USD trickled lower and retreated to beneath the 1.1700 handle amid the firmer buck and with light news flow from the bloc.
GBP/USD was lacklustre with little reaction seen to comments over the weekend from UK PM Starmer that the UK should move to closer alignment with the European single market on an