On a rather turbulent Friday, the major U.Sstock indices opened on a positive note only to diminish throughout the trading day, closing downThis decline comes amidst announcements that the U.Splans to impose reciprocal tariffs on its trade partnersAnalysts suggest that these tariffs could signal an overall increase in the tax levels applied to importsAs a result, for the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average settled down by 0.54%, the S&P 500 dipped by 0.24%, and the Nasdaq Composite slid by 0.53%. Tesla was particularly affected, plummeting by 11%, marking its largest drop since October of the previous year.

By the end of the day’s trade, the Dow had lost 444.23 points, concluding at 44,303.40, a drop of 0.99%. The Nasdaq experienced a loss of 268.59 points, resulting in a closing figure of 19,523.40, which translates to a decrease of 1.36%. Similarly, the S&P 500 closed at 6,025.99 after shedding 57.58 points, a decrease of 0.95%. Conversely, the Chinese Hang Seng Index bucked this trend, rising 1.34%, with notable gains in Chinese stocks such as Alibaba, which was up by 3.12%, Pinduoduo climbing by 1.38%, and JD.com up by 0.4%.

In Europe, stock markets experienced their own struggles, with Germany's DAX 30 index dropping by 130.59 points, down 0.60% to 21,782.42. The UK's FTSE 100 fell by 28.59 points or 0.33%, settling at 8,698.69. France's CAC 40 index lost 34.59 points (down 0.43%), closing at 7,973.03. The European Stoxx 50 index reported a decline of 30.28 points, a loss of 0.57%, bringing it down to 5,326.35. Spain's IBEX 35 dropped 56.58 points, a decrease of 0.44%, closing at 12,682.02. The Italian FTSE MIB index also saw a slight decline of 62.77 points, closing at 37,059.00, down 0.17%.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the Nikkei 225 fell by 0.72%, while South Korea’s KOSPI index decreased by 0.58%. The Jakarta Composite index in Indonesia experienced a sharper decline, dropping by 1.93%.

When it comes to commodities, gold remained a point of interest, with COMEX futures closing up by 0.35% at $2,886.80 per ounce

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Earlier during the session, prices even climbed to an intraday record high of $2,910.60, resulting in a weekly increase of 1.83%.

On the oil front, the U.SWest Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices rose slightly on Friday, but for the week, the commodity saw a cumulative drop of 2.1%, marking the third consecutive week of declinesThe price for March delivery of WTI crude oil settled at $71.00 per barrel, up $0.39 (0.55%).

As for the dollar, the ICE U.SDollar Index rose by 0.31%, reaching 108.019. However, it has seen an overall decline of 0.33% for the week, trading within a range of 109.881 to 107.296. The first half of the week saw it trend downward, but it appeared to rebound following the release of the non-farm payroll report on FridayThe Bloomberg Dollar Index rose by 0.22% to 1,300.22 points, yet ended the week down by 0.57%.

Turning to macroeconomic news, the U.S

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labor market has shown mixed signalsThe non-farm payrolls report for January revealed an increase of only 143,000 jobs, falling short of expectationsThe unemployment rate edged down from 4.1% to 4%, while the labor force participation rate ticked up to 62.6%. The report, however, is less encouraging than anticipated, with estimates predicting a rise of 175,000 jobsWage growth also showed some optimism, with average hourly earnings rising by 0.5% from the previous month, surpassing expectations set at 0.3%.

In light of these developments, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy report indicated plans to cease balance sheet shrinking at an appropriate timeThe Federal Reserve has been actively reducing its holdings of U.STreasury bonds and agency securities, with cutbacks totaling $297 billion since June 2024, culminating in a total reduction of about $2 trillion since the balance sheet shrinkage began

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Officials indicated their intent to maintain a stable level of securities holdings to effectively conduct monetary policy.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller highlighted that maintaining interest rates unchanged for a "period of time" could be prudent given the stable labor market and slow progress on inflationFacing ongoing uncertainty in fiscal and trade policies, Waller reiterated that recent developments in inflation were insufficiently favorable.

Lastly, news surrounding consumer credit revealed a significant increase in overdue balances, as the total amount of consumer credit outstanding grew by $40.8 billion in December, representing the largest recorded increaseThis surge was largely fueled by rising credit card debts, reversing previous declines and suggesting that consumers are increasingly reliant on credit.

In more localized news from New York, the state has reported seven cases of avian influenza, prompting the government to temporarily close live poultry markets in several areas, including parts of Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens

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