Chasing a bull market? Maybe pay attention to the gold

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, the international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open keeps investors informed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

Colombia sees first Trump tariffs
US President Donald Trump books On his social media platform Truth Social he will do just that Immediately impose a 25% tariff – which will rise to 50% within a week – on goods coming from Colombia, in addition to enacting other punitive measures on the Colombian government. American consumers may have to Pay more for coffee, crude oil, and cut flowers From Colombia.

Second profit week for US stocks
Major US indices fell on Friday, but still… He finished the week higherFor the second consecutive week of gains. Pan-European Stokes 600 It decreased by 0.05%, however The week ended with an increase of more than 1%.. barbaric jumped about 10% on a A smaller than expected decline in sales In the third fiscal quarter, while Ericsson It fell more than 12% after the company Missed estimates About fourth quarter earnings.

New height of the alphabet
alphabet shares It closed on Friday at $200 For the first time on the basis of modified division. Company outlet The stock will split 20-for-1 in 2022. At the time, the stock was trading at about $2,750, which equates to $137.50 after the split. Morgan Stanley Analysts on Friday highlighted the opportunities presented by Alphabet's AI agent products.

Mega Meta Investing
dead CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company's plans on Friday Investing about $60 billion to $65 billion in capital expenditures in 2025. Meta is also building an AI engineer who will contribute “increasing amounts of code to our R&D efforts,” Zuckerberg added. Following the announcement, Meta shares closed at $647.49, a new all-time high.

Trump's intentions with TikTok
Trump makes a deal Save TikTok's US operationsReuters reported, citing two people familiar with the discussions. The sources said that the deal will include: oracle. However, in remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump denied Oracle's involvement, saying, “People are so great“We are talking to him about buying TikTok. One party could be Perplexity AI, which It revived its proposal for ByteDance.

(PRO) Earnings dominate the week
meta platforms, Microsoft and Tesla Announcing their earnings on Wednesday, follows apple Thursday – Analysts believe reports may do just that Determine the direction of the markets. Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve concludes its meeting on Wednesday, where investors will scrutinize Chairman Jerome Powell's comments for hints about the path for interest rates.

the Standard & Poor's 500 It's been moving sideways since its post-election jump in November — in fact, it ended 2024 lower than it was at the start of December.

There are signs that the markets have finally awakened from their slumber. While some Magnificent Seven stocks struggled on Friday, both Alphabet and Meta Platforms ended the day at all-time highs on optimism about their AI offerings.

Although all major US indices declined on Friday, they ended the week higher for the second time in a row. Standard & Poor's and Nasdaq Composite Both of them rose by about 1.7% last week, while each of them rose by about 1.7% last week Dow Jones Industrial Average It rose by 2.2%.

The S&P closed at a new high on Thursday and hit a new intraday high during Friday's session. Impressively, it only took eight sessions for the index to rise from a two-month low to a record high. male Sundial Capital Research founder Jason Goepfert.

This rapid turnaround indicates that investors have become convinced that the bull market is winding down.

Some of these sentiments can be traced back to Trump's sentiments comments At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland He pledges “To demand an immediate cut in interest rates” and comment And he “will ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to reduce the cost of oil.”

Lower interest rates generally boost economic activity, while lower oil prices reduce costs for businesses.

But some analysts worry that investors might just cheer a specter.

“So far, markets have reacted to every statement the president has made, even those that should have no impact,” said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Seibert. “This indicates that traders have not yet settled on their pace.”

In fact, perhaps the most realistic sentiment of the markets can be explained by gold prices. Spot gold prices rose on Friday to their highest levels in nearly three months, indicating that some investors are turning to the precious metal in search of safety amid uncertainty.

For those chasing a bull market, it may be worth listening first to what bullion has to say.

— CNBC's Alex Haring, Yun Li and Sarah Min contributed to this report.