Overview
- - Trading stayed subdued with several Asian bourses shut for Lunar New Year and the prior U.S. holiday limiting liquidity.
- - The dollar held recent advances as investors looked to Fed minutes and advance GDP, with markets leaning toward a first rate cut around June.
- - Crude prices edged higher as the U.S. and Iran prepared for indirect talks in Geneva, sustaining a geopolitical risk premium in energy.
- - The yen strengthened even as Japan’s Nikkei declined on weak fourth‑quarter growth and a slide in SoftBank shares.
- - Gold pulled back toward the $4,900–$5,000 per ounce range, Bloomberg reported potential Pentagon curbs on ties with Anthropic that fed AI-sector jitters, and Indian stocks opened lower with foreign selling offset by domestic buying.