- STOXX 600 touches new all-time high
- Oil prices edge higher
- Traders focus on US jobs data later in week
PARIS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Stock markets continued to rally in early European trading on Tuesday, as global markets remained upbeat ahead of key market data this week, while the U.S. raid and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro did not dampen traders' risk appetite.
Europe's STOXX 600 closed at an all-time high on Monday, and on Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average also hit a new record helped by gains in U.S. oil companies and financials. The risk-on mood continued during Asian trading on Tuesday, and European stocks opened higher.
Toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty on Monday to narcotics charges, after the United States seized him and took him to New York at the weekend. Markets remained positive, with the STOXX 600 up roughly 0.1% on the day at 1000 GMT, having touched a new all-time high earlier in the session. The MSCI World Equity Index was up 0.2%, while London's FTSE 100 was up 0.4%.
"It doesn’t look like it’s rattling the market in any serious way at all... The market’s not pricing in an escalation of risk, not pricing in a ripple effect of Trump potentially delving into other South American countries," said Fiona Cincotta, senior markets analyst at City Index.
"The general sense of the market is upbeat at the moment.”
The raid on Venezuela provided a boost to big U.S. oil companies' stock on Monday, as investors bet Washington would give U.S. firms access to Venezuela's oil reserves. U.S. President Donald Trump plans to meet with executives from U.S. oil companies later this week to discuss boosting Venezuelan oil production, Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Oil prices edged slightly higher on Tuesday, but analysts said it was too early to assess the impact on Venezuela's oil output. Brent crude futures were up 0.3% at $61.94 a barrel .
"Venezuela’s energy infrastructure remains in severe disrepair, so any meaningful production rebound will be a multi-year prospect at best," UBS analysts wrote in a research note.
U.S. ECONOMIC DATA TO SET MARKET TONE
The U.S. dollar was steady, with the dollar index at 98.395 . It had surged to a four-week high in the previous session but gave up all of its gains after a measure of U.S. manufacturing activity slumped to a 14-month low. The euro was little changed at $1.1715 .
The upbeat mood in markets was driven by expectations for U.S. interest rate cuts. Traders were focused on a U.S. monthly employment report, due on Friday, which will influence the market's monetary policy expectations. Financial markets are pricing in two Federal Reserve rate cuts this year, according to LSEG data.
In an interview on CNBC on Monday, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari warned of the risk that the jobless rate could "pop" higher, but said inflation is slowly trending down.
"While Kashkari’s neutral stance may slow rate cut expectations, we believe continued labor market weakness and softer macroeconomic data will keep the FOMC on track for another rate cut this quarter and maintain downward pressure on the US dollar," UBS analysts wrote.
The euro zone economy expanded at a slower pace last month but ended 2025 with its strongest quarterly growth in more than two years, PMI data showed. Consumer prices data showed prices rose slightly less than expected in France, while climbing 1.8% in Germany's most populous state. Euro zone government bond yields dropped after the data, with the benchmark ten-year German yield at 2.8561% .
Gold prices hovered near a one-week high, with spot gold around $4,451. Copper hit an all-time high.
Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Hugh Lawson
Source: Reuters