Safe-haven sentiment rises, global stock market rally pauses, Nasdaq futures fall 0.5%, bonds favored, gold and silver drop.

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Weak U.S. economic data and geopolitical tensions have shaken risk sentiment, leading stock markets broadly lower, pushing up bond prices, and causing precious metals to continue their downward trend.

On January 8, U.S. stock index futures fell across the board, most Asian stock indexes declined, while South Korean stocks bucked the trend and hit new highs. U.S. Treasury and global bond prices rose, the dollar remained basically flat. Gold and silver led the fall in precious metals, crude oil rebounded due to concerns about geopolitical supply, and cryptocurrencies came under pressure.

The optimistic sentiment that has supported risk assets since the start of the year is now showing signs of fading as geopolitical uncertainty intensifies. Meanwhile, traders are closely watching a key ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court this Friday regarding Trump's global tariff policies.

Charu Chanana, Chief Investment Strategist at Saxo Bank, said:

"After a strong start to 2026, the market is taking a breather, and ahead of Friday’s U.S. jobs report, no one is willing to add new risk exposure. The Fed's policy debate is not over, and regional security issues are keeping investors cautious."

The main market moves were as follows:

Dow futures fell nearly 0.3%, S&P 500 futures fell over 0.3%, Nasdaq 100 futures fell over 0.5%

Nikkei 225 closed down 1.6% at 51,117.26 points, TOPIX closed down 0.8% at 3,484.34 points.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury decreased 1 basis point to 4.13%, the yield on Japan's 10-year government bond fell 4.5 basis points to 2.075%, and the yield on Australia's 10-year government bond dropped 9 basis points to 4.67%

The dollar index was basically flat, the yen rose 0.1% against the dollar to 156.56

Spot silver fell 2.23% to $76.45/oz. Spot gold dropped 0.43% to $4,437/oz.

Bitcoin decreased 1.1% to $90,034.81, Ethereum fell 1% to $3,114.62

The strong momentum in U.S. stocks at the beginning of the year is cooling off as U.S. stock index futures fall across the board. Mixed U.S. economic data combined with Trump's frequent geopolitical policy statements prompted traders to take some profits ahead of the Nonfarm Payrolls report.

According to Wallstreetcn, ADP data released overnight showed that private sector hiring in December was moderate, indicating a slowing labor market. However, the ISM Services Index released afterwards expanded at its fastest pace in over a year, suggesting economic demand remains strong, leaving the market in a wait-and-see mode due to these conflicting signals.

The market is closely watching the U.S. December Nonfarm Payrolls report to be released locally on Friday. This will be the first release since a six-week U.S. government shutdown in October last year, which interrupted key economic data collection for months.

Although most Asian indexes followed Wall Street lower overnight, the South Korean market saw the KOSPI index reach a record high on the back of strong earnings expectations from Samsung Electronics. Samsung's share price fell 1.6% after investors took profits following its recent rally, but it had risen 3% in early trading.

According to Wallstreetcn, Samsung today released Q4 guidance: Operating profit is expected to reach 20 trillion KRW, tripling year-on-year and surging 64% quarter-on-quarter, setting a new record, and sales also soared to a historic high of 93 trillion KRW.

Against the backdrop of risk assets under pressure, global bond markets have become a "safe haven" for capital flows. The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury promptly fell back to 4.14%. Government bond prices in major European countries generally rose, and Australian bond prices were significantly boosted due to weaker-than-expected inflation data and clear cautious policy signals from the central bank.

The global bond market is experiencing its busiest start ever. According to Wallstreetcn and Bloomberg data, as of January 7, total corporate and government borrowing across major currency markets in the U.S., Europe, and Asia has reached about $245 billion, a record high for this period. U.S. investment-grade bonds issued $72 billion over two days, Europe financed more than €57 billion in a single day, both refreshing records.

The precious metals market has seen another round of collective adjustment. Wallstreetcn's earlier article mentioned that precious metals have been hit by liquidity shocks due to the annual rebalancing of the Bloomberg Commodity Index. The process started after today's close and will last until the 14th. The adjustment cuts gold's weight from 20.4% to 14.9% and slashes silver's weight from 9.6% to 3.94%, forcing passive funds tracking the index to mechanically adjust their positions.

Crude oil prices fluctuated due to geopolitical news. According to Xinhua News Agency, at 8:43am U.S. Eastern Time on the 7th, the U.S. European Command posted on social media that an oil tanker was detained in the North Atlantic, and the ship was reportedly flying the Russian flag.

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