The job market has been a major point of barrier to lower rates, and it just made a dramatic turnaround. U.S. employers just added 130,000 jobs in January, beating expectations, although the unemployment rate held at 4.3%. It's a clear sign that the labour market could recover and continue to expand but at a more moderate pace. Hiring was largely concentrated in services, led by health care and social assistance, while financial activities and the federal government saw declines as the sectors were hit by layoffs. The federal contraction especially shows a longer downturn linked to deferred resignations, with federal employment now down 10.9% from its October 2024 peak. Wage growth remained steady as average hourly earnings rose 0.4% in January and 3.7% year over year, and labour utilisation edged higher with the average private-sector workweek at 34.3 hours. The report also included significant annual benchmark revisions, with the seasonally adjusted March 2025 employment level revised down by 898,000 and total job growth for 2025 lowered from +584,000 to +181,000, recasting last year as considerably weaker than previously thought. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labour Statistics noted that winter storms had no discernible national impact on payrolls, and both labour force participation and the employment-population ratio were essentially unchanged.

EQUITY

Stocks ended mostly flat after a Monday rebound as AI hardware and semiconductor stocks defied a flat broader market. Chip equipment makers Lam Research and Applied Materials regained their rally, while software giants continued their decline, where Intuit and Salesforce lost on receding hopes for near-term rate relief. Industrials like Caterpillar and Eaton each climbed 4%, and Zillow crashed 16.5% following poor earnings.

GOLD

Gold prices are steady near $5,064, only briefly dropping as January nonfarm payroll data came in better than expected, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve would delay its first rate cut until July rather than June. Adding a transformative dimension to the market, tokenised gold gained 53% in just six weeks to reach a $6 billion valuation, with Tether's XAU₮ and Paxos's PAXG leading the charge by enabling fractional ownership and seamless cross-border transfers of digital gold assets.

OIL

Brent briefly touched a 27-week high, extending a four-week rally of over 10% on escalating US-Iran tensions while Venezuelan oil is sent to Israel for the first time since 2020. The rally was supported by reports of US military deployments and threats to intercept Iranian tankers should nuclear negotiations collapse, keeping prices hovering near the $70 mark. However, gains remain capped by an 8.5-million-barrel buildup in US crude inventories, the largest since late June 2025.

CURRENCY

The US dollar shot up half a percentage after January's jobs report, yet the DXY remained rangebound near 96.8 by fiscal concerns and political uncertainty. The yen rallied to a two-week high, nearing 152 per dollar, following Prime Minister Takaichi's election victory, with markets pricing a 26% chance of a Bank of Japan rate hike thanks to foreign investment flows. The yuan grew to a 3-year high at 6.89 on solid export data and supportive policy cues.