May this year prove as lucrative as 2025, when the S&P 500 rallied 16.39% mostly on the back of enthusiasm over artificial intelligence.
Other highlights of last year: Google-parent Alphabet was the most magnificent of the Magnificent Seven; Colombia's stock market was the surprise leader of the MSCI All Country World Index; silver surged over 141%, outshining its sibling gold, which itself had a phenomenal year.
And even though the first week of 2026 isn't yet over, global markets and investors already have to contend with a major geopolitical flare-up: the U.S.' attack on Venezuela.
The situation is still developing, so here's a rundown to bring you up to speed:
The oil question: President Donald Trump said the U.S.' oil companies will invest in Venezuela's energy sector. An oil consulting firm said Petróleos de Venezuela, the South American nation's state-owned oil company, still "controls the majority of the oil production and reserves." And analysts think crude prices should remain steady in the near term.
The foreign policy front: Analysts think the U.S. strike on Venezuela, despite its apparent display of forceful interference in another country, will not embolden China to do the same with regard to Taiwan.
And Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederikse is taking no chances with Trump. On Sunday, following the attack, she cautioned the U.S. to "stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have said very clearly that they are not for sale."
It's a lot to take in for the first Monday of 2026 — for now, we'll have to wait for the U.S. to wake up for updates on their front.
What you need to know today
U.S. attacks Venezuela. The military operation, which overthrew and captured the country's president Nicolas Maduro, was conducted Saturday stateside. A U.S. federal indictment is charging Maduro with a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
Confusion over the future of Venezuela. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday appeared to backtrack on President Donald Trump's claim that the U.S. will "run" oil-rich Venezuela.
U.S. stocks wobble Friday. On the first trading day of 2026, the S&P 500 rose 0.19%, but gave up earlier gains of as much as 0.7%. Asia-Pacific markets climbed on Monday. South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped more than 3% on the back of defense stocks rising.
Trump orders Chinese-controlled chip firm to divest. The order concerns HieFo's acquisition of New Jersey-based Emcore's digital chips and related wafer design, fabrication, and processing businesses in April 2024. It's another intensification of the chip war between U.S. and China.
[PRO] U.S. labor market data to set the tone. The year kicks off with the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for December, out Friday, which will provide market watchers the first sign of how the economy has been holding up.
And finally...
SpaceX stock debut is the big market event of 2026. Why Musk's venture could be biggest IPO ever
Elon Musk's SpaceX is reportedly looking at a value of around $1.5 trillion when it hits the public market. That would surpass the prior record set by the Saudi Aramco IPO in 2019.
Musk said late last month that reports of the space technology company's plans to go public this year were "accurate." Multiple outlets reported that the IPO was in the works following a share sale valuing the firm at around $800 billion.
— Alex Harring
