The China Ratingdog Services Purchasing Managers’ Index recorded 52.3 in January, surpassing the expected 51.8. This index reflects an overall growth in China’s service sector activity.<\/p>\n
In the currency market, the EUR\/USD remained stable above 1.1800, influenced by uncertainties surrounding US monetary policies. GBP\/USD held gains above 1.3700, awaiting US data and responses to economic indicators.<\/p>\n
The commodities market saw gold maintaining gains due to increased demand for safe-haven assets. This was amid rising tensions between the US and Iran following reports of a US-Iran drone incident.<\/p>\n
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple experienced a decline in value. Bitcoin reached its lowest price since November 2024 at $72,945, while Ethereum and Ripple also faced significant losses.<\/p>\n
The sell-off in tech stocks impacted US equity markets, causing declines in Nasdaq and the S&P 500 by 1.7% and 1.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, Solana’s price fell below $100 as overall demand waned, despite reaching a record 150 million daily transactions.<\/p>\n
The better-than-expected Chinese services data at 52.3 suggests underlying strength in their economy. We should look at this as a positive for commodities that China consumes heavily, like copper and iron ore. This pattern was consistent through several quarters of 2025, where similar data surprises boosted commodity futures for weeks afterward.<\/p>\n
The sharp sell-off in US tech stocks is driving market fear and increasing volatility. This makes protective put options on indices like the Nasdaq 100 look attractive for hedging or for speculation on further downside. The VIX index, a key measure of market fear, has surged to over 25 this week, signaling that traders are pricing in more turbulence ahead.<\/p>\n
The flight to safety is clear, with gold pushing past the $5,050 mark as the US Dollar weakens. Rising geopolitical risks combined with dovish Fed expectations are creating a powerful tailwind for precious metals. This reminds us of the sustained rally in early 2025 when the market first began anticipating an end to the Fed’s tightening cycle.<\/p>\n
The crypto market is in a free fall, with Bitcoin breaking below the key $73,000 support level for the first time in three months. We are seeing implied volatility on Bitcoin options spike above 80%, indicating extreme uncertainty and the potential for large price swings in the coming weeks. The breakdown of Solana below the $100 psychological barrier confirms the bearish momentum is widespread across altcoins.<\/p>\n
Major currency pairs are coiling tightly as we await crucial inflation and employment data from the Eurozone and the US later this week. Looking back at the reaction to the Q4 2025 inflation reports, a surprise of just 0.2% was enough to move EUR\/USD by over 150 pips in a single session. This suggests using options to trade the coming volatility could be more prudent than holding a directional spot position.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" China\u2019s service sector grows; tech sell-off hits US stocks; crypto declines; gold rises amid US-Iran tensions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":16963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}