Market Summary Today: Severe losses for U.S. stocks as bonds and oil rebound while gold declines amid a stable dollar.

A red wave dominated American stocks on Friday as investors leaned towards risk aversion during a short trading week due to year-end holidays, while oil and bonds benefited from geopolitical developments, whereas gold lost some of its luster as the year came to a close.

Stock Markets

US Stocks

US stock indices saw a sharp decline today, following a wave of severe losses particularly in the technology sector and the negative data released on the US trade balance.

In terms of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.20% to record 42,807.45 points, and the S&P 500 dipped by 1.6% to 5,941.49 points, while the Nasdaq Composite suffered the largest losses, down 2.15% to 19,604.93 points.

European Stocks

European stock indices closed Friday’s session with collective gains, after European markets returned from the year-end holidays. The Euro Stoxx 600 index rose by 0.67% to record 507.18 points, while the French CAC 40 index increased by 1.00% to 7,355.37 points.

Similarly, the German DAX index climbed by 0.68% to close at 19,984.32 points, the UK FTSE 100 index increased by 0.16% to close at 8,149.78 points, and the Italian FTSE MIB index rose by about 1.25% to finish the session at 34,160.97 points.

Asian Stocks

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose by 1.8% to close at 40,281.16 points, while the Topix index added 1.26% to close at 2801.68 points. In China, the Hang Seng index for Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong increased by 0.39%, while the CSI 300 index closed in Beijing down by 0.16% at 3,981.03 points.

Forex

The US dollar index – which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of 6 other major currencies – stabilized near its highest level in two years at 108.12 points, after erasing its early session marginal losses following the negative trade balance data released earlier today.

The euro stabilized against the greenback at $1.0424, while the British pound rose about 0.27% against the dollar to record $1.2559, and the dollar fell against the Japanese yen by 0.1% to 157.78 yen.

Bond Market

US Treasury bonds rose as investor demand increased for them as a safe haven amidst escalating geopolitical tensions. The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bonds rose by about 0.76% or 35 basis points to record 4.612%, while the yield on 2-year US Treasury bonds fell by 0.46% or 20 basis points to 4.312%.

Commodities

In the commodities market, recent events led investors to trade in the energy sector with clear gains for European oil and gas, while gold erased all gains from the previous session.

Gold

Gold prices fell today, losing their previous session gains despite a stable dollar amidst rising Treasury yields. The price of an ounce of gold in spot contracts declined by 0.60% to $2,617.32, while February futures gold contracts suffered larger losses, dropping about 0.89% to $2,630.20.

 Oil

Oil benefited from positive data on US oil inventories, which showed a larger-than-expected decrease in stocks at the world’s largest oil consumer last week, as well as from remarks and decisions made by the Chinese government this week as part of its efforts to stimulate the Chinese economy, amid the struggles of the world’s biggest oil importer to revive economic activity.

Futures prices for Brent crude oil for February delivery rose by 0.93% to record $73.92 per barrel, and futures prices for West Texas Intermediate crude oil for February delivery also increased by 1.07% to $70.35 per barrel.

Gas

As for gas prices, Dutch futures gas contracts rose by 4.5% to record €47.782 per megawatt hour, and British gas futures contracts increased by about 3% to £119.32 per million British thermal units, following a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin that there might not be a new agreement for gas supplies to the continent via Ukraine with the end of the last deal approaching by the end of this year.

Digital Assets Market

Bitcoin fell by about 1.12% to $94,400 today, while Ethereum rose by about 1.12% to $3,356, and Solana decreased by 0.97% to $186.12, while Ripple increased by 0.6% to $2.16.