1 month ago
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Stan Choe
January 22, 2026 — 5:18am
The US stock market is steadying following its worst day since October, though some signs of fear remain on Wall Street about President Donald Trump’s desire to take Greenland.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6 per cent after Trump said in a speech before business and government leaders in Europe that he would not use force to take “the piece of ice.” The potential de-escalation in rhetoric, which had ramped up earlier with talk of tariffs crossing the Atlantic, helped the index recover some of its 2.1 per cent drop from the day before and pull closer to its all-time high set earlier this month.
The Dow Jones was up 336 points, or 0.7 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5 per cent higher.
The Australian sharemarket is set to dip, with futures at 5am AEDT pointing to a loss of 10 points, or 0.1 per cent, at the open. The ASX shed 0.4 per cent on Wednesday. The Australian dollar is trading at US67.56¢ at 5.15am AEDT.
Treasury yields also eased in the bond market, a day after jumping in a potential signal of worries about higher inflation in the long term. They got help from a calming of bond yields in Japan, which surged earlier on concerns about the size of its government’s debt. The value of the US dollar also held steadier against the euro, Swiss franc and other currencies after sliding the day before.
But some nerves seemed to remain in the market, and the price of gold rose another 1.7 per cent and topped $US4,800 per ounce for the first time.
Trump himself acknowledged how his desire for Greenland led to Tuesday’s drop in the US stock market, but he called it “peanuts compared to what it’s gone up” in the first year of his second term and said it would go up further in the future. While saying he would not use force to take Greenland, he called for “immediate negotiations” for the United States to acquire it from Denmark.
Trump has a history of making big threats that send financial markets sliding, only to pull back later and reach deals that are seen as less bad for the economy or for inflation than his initial suggestion.
On one hand, the pattern has given rise to the “TACO” acronym suggesting “Trump Always Chickens Out” if financial markets react strongly enough. On the other, has ultimately struck deals that outsiders may have earlier considered unlikely, ones that he’s crowed about later. The most obvious example is Trump’s announcement of high tariffs on “Liberation Day,” which eventually led to trade deals with many of the world’s major economies.
Helping to lead the US stock market Wednesday was Halliburton, which rose 4.9 per cent after the oilfield services company reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
United Airlines climbed 2.9 per cent after likewise reporting a better profit for the end of 2025 than expected. CEO Scott Kirby said that the airline’s strong momentum in revenue is continuing into 2026.
They helped offset a 4.8 per cent drop for Netflix. The streamer sank even though it reported a stronger profit than expected as investors focused instead on its slowing subscriber growth and its lower-than-expected forecast for profit in the current quarter.
Kraft Heinz sank 5.4 per cent after Berkshire Hathaway warned investors Tuesday that it may be interested in selling its 325 million shares in the food giant that former CEO Warren Buffett helped create in 2015.
Berkshire took a $US3.76 billion ($5.6 billion) write-down on its Kraft-Heinz stake last summer. Buffett said last fall that he was disappointed in Kraft Heinz’ plan to split the company in two, and Berkshire’s two representatives resigned from the Kraft board last spring.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.27 per cent from 4.30 per cent late Tuesday. But it’s still above the 4.24 per cent level where it was at on Friday.
That’s before Trump threatened to impose 10 per cent tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland beginning in February for opposing US control of Greenland. That would be on top of a 15 per cent tariff specified by a trade agreement with the European Union that has yet to be ratified.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in mostly modest movements across Europe and Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.4 per cent.
The country’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has called a snap election for Feb. 8, which had sent yields of long-term government bonds to record levels. The expectation is that Takaichi, who is capitalizing on strong public support ratings, will cut taxes and boost spending and increase the government’s already heavy load of debt.
The yield on the 40-year Japanese government bond pulled back to 4.05 per cent Wednesday, down from the 4.22 per cent level that it had surged to on Tuesday.
AP
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