Market Recap • Week 1 2026

Highlights from the week of December 29, 2025 - January 2, 2026

European equities break out, precious metals pull back, while Bitcoin tries to bottom and South Korea continues to pump.

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Equities

America

• 🇺🇸 S&P 500 pulled back from the prior week’s record close with a 1.03% decline this year. However, it did manage to finish the first trading day of 2026 in the green after a volatile session.
• 🇺🇸 Nasdaq Composite fell 1.52% this week and has still yet to surpass its all-time high from late October.
• 🇺🇸 Dow Jones Industrial showed some strength with a 0.66% gain on Friday while the Nasdaq was flat and thus finished the week with a more modest 0.67% decline.
• 🇺🇸 Russell 2000 saw the biggest outperformance on Friday when it jumped more than 1% and cut its weekly losses in half.
• 🇨🇦 TSX inched down by 0.36% following last week’s record high and a really strong 2025.
• 🇲🇽 IPC dropped 2.28% and gave back all of last week’s gains that took the index to a new all-time high.
• 🇧🇷 Bovespa had a quiet week with only minor price swings, closing the week 0.22% lower than where it started.
• 🇦🇷 Merval eked out a 0.45% gain for the week after a 2.45% surge on Friday.

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Europe

• 🇪🇺 STOXX 600 had a strong conclusion to 2025 and continued its strength into the new year, gaining 1.26% for the week and closing at a new record high.
• 🇬🇧 FTSE 100 rose 0.82% for the week and briefly topped 10,000 for the first time ever on Friday before pulling back.
• 🇩🇪 DAX matched the Footsie with a 0.82% gain this week and actually printed a new record high weekly close above 24,500. The DAX is now just 1% away from its October intraweek high of 24,750 and could look poised for a breakout.
• 🇵🇱 WIG20 surged 3.39% to a new all-time high this week on the back of strong performance in the financials and industrials. The Polish index soared more than 45% in 2025.
• 🇧🇪 BEL 20 also reached a new record high after a 1.43% move this week.
• 🇳🇱 AEX rallied 2.79% this week and got within 2% of its all-time high reached in late October.
• 🇪🇸 IBEX continued where it left off and rose 1.78% to a new record high this week. The IBEX gained more than 49% in 2025.
• 🇫🇷 CAC 40 rose 1.13% to its highest weekly close since the all-time high in October.
• 🇮🇹 IT 40 gained 1.67% and closed at a new all-time high above 45,000.
• 🇵🇹 PSI20 soared 2.66% for its best week since September but didn’t quite take out the prior all-time high.
• 🇩🇰 C25 eked out a 0.4% gain and closed the week at a new 10-month high.

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Asia

• 🇯🇵 Nikkei 225 fell 0.81% this week and continues to consolidate after a massive run-up in the second half of 2025.
• 🇨🇳 Hang Seng surged 2.76% on Friday alone after a new spending plan was approved, closing out the week with a 2.01% gain.
• 🇮🇳 Nifty 50 rose 1.1% and closed at a new all-time high. The Nifty 50 looks great here.
• 🇰🇷 KOSPI does not want to slow down. It soared 4.36% this week on the back of strong performance in Samsung and SK Hynix, closing at a new record high above 4,300. It opened up 2025 at 2,440 before surging 75% and seems to be carrying that momentum into 2026.
• 🇹🇼 TSEC jumped 2.78% to a new all-time high and is fast approaching the 30,000 level.

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Currencies & Commodities

• 💰 The DXY bounced 0.39% this week and closed at 98.433 USD after briefly dipping below 98 last week.
• 🇪🇺 USD.EUR strengthened by 0.44% but is still near multi-year lows.
• 🇬🇧 USD.GBP eked out a 0.3% gain to close the week at 0.743 GBP.
• 🇯🇵 USD.JPY gained 0.19% and remains near levels where the BoJ may step in and intervene to shore up the yen. It will be one of the more interesting charts to watch in 2026.
• 🇨🇳 USD.CNH continued its deroute and dropped 0.48% this week, closing below 7 CNH at its lowest level since May of 2023.
• 🥇 Gold pulled back from last week’s all-time high by dropping 4.43% this week, closing at $4,331 per ounce. The entire loss happened on Monday though, followed by some choppy price action but overall stabilization.
• 🥈 Silver printed one of its largest reversal candles ever on Monday when it first rose 5.5% to a new all-time high of $83.75 before heading lower and closing 9% lower at $72. The price remained volatile throughout the week as investors try to agree on a direction but mostly held Monday’s lows as support. It closed the week at $72.82 per ounce, down 8.21% from last week’s record close.
• 🥉 Copper followed gold and silver but with much less drama, falling just 2.53% this week and closing essentially in the middle of its intraweek trading range.
• 🏆 Bitcoin is trading around $89,500 as of Saturday morning (CET), up 1.9% on the week. Sadly, this is its best week since November. It does seem to be establishing a strong bottom though, potentially setting up for a solid 2026.
• The altcoin market has rebounded 3.3% this week, led by 7% and 5% gains in Ripple (XRP) and Ethereum (ETH).

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Bond yields

• 🇺🇸 The US 2-year yield inched 0.17% lower this week and closed at 3.475%.
• 🇺🇸 The US 10-year yield jumped 1.52% to 4.195%, its highest weekly close since August.
• 🇺🇸 The US 30-year yield gained 1.14% and closed at 4.871%.
• 🇪🇺 The Euro 2-year yield fell early in the week but recovered all losses on Friday, closing virtually flat at 2.147%.
• 🇪🇺 The Euro 10-year yield closed back above 2.9% after a 1.54% gain this week.
• 🇨🇳 The China 10-year yield rose 1.8% for the week and closed at 1.862% after briefly spiking to 1.93% on Friday.
• 🇨🇳 The China 30-year yield soared 3.77% to a new 52-week high of 2.313%.
• 🇯🇵 The Japan 2-year yield rose 1.92% to yet another all-time high of 1.168%.
• 🇯🇵 The Japan 10-year yield rose 1.42% and closed the week at a record high 2.072%.
• 🇯🇵 The Japan 30-year yield eked out a 0.29% gain and closed just below its recent all-time highs.

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Other

• The VIX jumped 6.69% this week but remains at a relatively low 14.51.