On Monday, the three major U.S. stock indices closed in positive territory. Widespread gains were seen in companies like Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft, all of which are scheduled to release their earnings reports this week. After the market closed, former U.S. President Donald Trump stated on social media: "The South Korean National Assembly has failed to honor the agreement reached with the United States. President Lee Jae-myung and I reached a mutually beneficial agreement on July 30, 2025, and reaffirmed these terms during my visit to South Korea on October 29, 2025. Why has the South Korean National Assembly still not ratified the agreement? Given that the South Korean National Assembly has not yet passed our historic trade agreement, which falls under their authority, I hereby announce an increase in reciprocal tariffs on South Korean automobiles, timber, pharmaceuticals, and all other goods from 15% to 25%."

At market close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 313.69 points, or 0.64%, to close at 49,412.4 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 100.11 points, or 0.43%, finishing at 23,601.36 points. The S&P 500 Index increased by 34.62 points, or 0.5%, settling at 6,950.23 points. Apple (AAPL.US) shares climbed 2.97%, Meta Platforms (META.US) advanced 2.06%, Microsoft (MSFT.US) rose 0.93%, while Tesla (TSLA.US) declined 3.09%.

Germany's DAX 30 index increased by 74.48 points, or 0.30%, closing at 24,933.84 points. The UK's FTSE 100 index edged up by 5.37 points, or 0.05%, ending at 10,148.81 points. France's CAC 40 index fell by 11.90 points, or 0.15%, to finish at 8,131.15 points. The Euro Stoxx 50 index rose by 7.16 points, or 0.12%, closing at 5,955.36 points. Spain's IBEX 35 index gained 132.52 points, or 0.76%, settling at 17,676.92 points. Italy's FTSE MIB index increased by 99.90 points, or 0.22%, ending at 44,931.50 points.

Bitcoin hovered near $88,000, having dipped to an intraday low of $87,016. Ethereum saw a slight increase of 0.94%, trading at $2,926.3.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.57% on the day, closing at 97.035 in late foreign exchange trading. By the close of the New York forex market, one euro could be exchanged for 1.1875 U.S. dollars, up from 1.1789 dollars in the previous session. One British pound traded at 1.3679 U.S. dollars, higher than the previous session's 1.3605 dollars. One U.S. dollar bought 154.18 Japanese yen, down from 156.14 yen previously. One dollar exchanged for 0.7768 Swiss francs, lower than the prior session's 0.7858 francs. One U.S. dollar was worth 1.3720 Canadian dollars, slightly up from 1.3718. One dollar traded for 8.9368 Swedish krona, down from 8.9783 krona.

Gold and silver pulled back after hitting new historic highs. Spot gold, after reaching a new peak of $5,111.17, saw its gains narrow to 0.41%, closing at $5,008.66 per ounce. Spot silver erased all its intraday gains by the end of the U.S. session, turning negative after having surged over 14% earlier; it closed at $103.7 per ounce, having reached a high of $117.74. Morgan Stanley forecasts that gold prices could rise to $5,700 per ounce in the second half of the year, driven by geopolitical uncertainty, continued central bank purchases, and robust ETF demand. The report noted that central banks, exemplified by countries like Poland, are still increasing their gold reserves despite high prices. If the Federal Reserve begins interest rate cuts in 2026, it could further support strong physical gold demand.

The price of light sweet crude oil for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by 44 cents, or 0.72%, settling at $60.63 per barrel. The price of London Brent crude for March delivery declined by 29 cents, or 0.44%, closing at $65.59 per barrel.

U.S. durable goods orders for November recorded their largest increase in six months. Orders surged by 5.3% in November 2025, primarily driven by commercial aircraft and other capital equipment orders, according to a report from the U.S. Commerce Department. This followed a revised decline of 2.1% in the previous month. Data released on Monday also showed that orders for core capital goods, excluding aircraft and military equipment—a key indicator of business equipment investment—increased by 0.7% month-over-month, exceeding expectations. U.S. natural gas prices broke above the $7 mark, with some spot prices surpassing $200. Reports indicated that due to severe cold weather across much of the nation, heating demand surged while supplies were disrupted, causing natural gas prices to climb steadily. On Monday afternoon U.S. time, the near-month natural gas contract breached $7 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) for the first time since 2022, representing a 40% increase from Friday's closing price. Meanwhile, traders reported that spot natural gas prices for delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana reached as high as $53/MMBtu. In the frigid Northeast, spot prices at the Iroquois Zone 2 hub exceeded $200/MMBtu. The winter storm is estimated to have disrupted approximately 12% of U.S. natural gas production. Traders are closely monitoring how long the storm's impact on production will last.

The Trump administration proposed keeping payment rates to insurers for Medicare largely unchanged next year, an adjustment significantly below Wall Street's expectations. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and White House officials, under this proposal, payments to plans are projected to increase by an average of 0.09% through 2027. CMS planned to announce this on Monday, a move that could pressure major insurance giants with significant Medicare businesses, including UnitedHealth (UNH.US), Humana (HUM.US), and CVS Health (CVS.US). U.S. healthcare stocks fell broadly in after-hours trading, with CVS Health dropping over 10%, Humana falling more than 13%, and UnitedHealth declining over 9%.

Microsoft (MSFT.US) launched its second-generation artificial intelligence chip, a core part of its strategy to more efficiently power its services and offer an alternative to products from NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US). The "Maia 200" chip, manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), is being shipped to Microsoft data centers in Iowa and will subsequently be deployed to the Phoenix area. Microsoft invited developers on Monday to begin using the control software for the Maia 200, though it remains unclear when users of its Azure cloud service will be able to access servers equipped with the chip. Scott Guthrie, Microsoft's Chief Cloud and AI Officer, stated that the first chips will be sent to Microsoft's Superintelligence team to generate data for optimizing next-generation AI models, cloud services, and AI systems. These chips will also power the "Copilot" assistants for enterprise services and the various AI models, including the latest versions from OpenAI, that Microsoft leases to cloud customers.

NVIDIA (NVDA.US) and AI cloud computing company CoreWeave (CRWV.US) announced an expansion of their long-standing complementary partnership to accelerate CoreWeave's construction of AI factories with a total capacity exceeding 5 gigawatts by 2030, thereby promoting the global scaling of AI applications. Additionally, NVIDIA has invested $2 billion to purchase Class A common shares of CoreWeave at $87.20 per share. This investment reflects NVIDIA's confidence in CoreWeave's business, team, and growth strategy as a cloud platform built on NVIDIA infrastructure. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang stated that AI is entering its next frontier and driving the largest infrastructure build-out in human history. CoreWeave's deep expertise in AI factories, platform software, and unparalleled execution speed are recognized in the industry. He added that they are working together to meet the massive market demand for NVIDIA AI factories.

USA Rare Earth (USAR.US) announced today that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce and established a cooperative relationship with the U.S. Department of Energy. The Department of Commerce, through the CHIPS Act program, indicated support totaling approximately $1.6 billion, comprising proposed federal funding of $277 million and proposed priority guaranteed loans of $1.3 billion under the CHIPS Act. Concurrently, the company completed financing through a $1.5 billion private placement of common stock, led by Inflection Point and involving participation from large mutual fund companies. This letter of intent with the U.S. government highlights the strategic value of USA Rare Earth's mine-to-magnet integrated platform and its crucial role in addressing supply gaps for rare earth elements and critical minerals essential to U.S. national security foundational industries like semiconductors, critical technologies, and advanced manufacturing. The letter of intent is still subject to further review, final agreement execution, customary closing conditions, and relevant approval processes.

JPMorgan Chase raised its price target for Apple, citing strong iPhone 17 demand and cost controls expected to drive earnings above expectations. JPMorgan stated that better-than-expected iPhone demand and lower operating expenses could propel Apple's (AAPL.US) performance beyond market expectations. The firm reiterated its "Overweight" rating on the tech giant and increased its price target from $305 to $315. Apple is scheduled to release its fiscal Q1 2026 earnings report on Thursday. "We believe that positive data signals related to robust demand for the iPhone 17 series are being overshadowed by investor concerns about the impact of unprecedented memory cost increases on gross margins, potential price elasticity issues with iPhone demand, and moderately soft growth data for some App Store services during the quarter." Analyst Samik Chatterjee believes that strong iPhone 17 demand combined with lower operating expenses will enable Apple to exceed both revenue and earnings expectations for the first quarter.