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Global financial markets extended their sharp retreat on Monday, with equities and precious metals continuing to pull back from recent highs.
The declines reflected investor unease over the future direction of U.S. monetary policy, the prospect of reduced geopolitical risk premiums, and persistent concerns about elevated technology stock valuations.
Following Friday’s losses in major U.S. stock indices, Asian markets also saw widespread declines. Seoul’s benchmark, which had led global gains in January due to its tech-heavy composition, dropped more than 5%. Tokyo fell over 1%, while the Shanghai Composite slipped 1.3% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 2.4%.
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The drop in commodities was especially pronounced in precious metals, which had surged to all-time highs last week. On Monday, gold declined 9% to $4,440.60 per ounce, while silver plunged 15% to $72, both keeping up their retreat from recent peaks of $5,595 and $121, respectively.
Other precious metals also came under pressure, with palladium falling over 5.4% to $1,600 and platinum sliding 10.6% to $1,940, extending losses across the sector.
The reversal was triggered in part by the CME Group’s latest move to raise margin requirements for precious metal futures, which increased the cost of leveraged trading positions. A stronger U.S. dollar, with the Dollar Index climbing above 97 on expectations of tighter monetary policy, further pressured commodity prices.
Fueling the dollar’s advance, U.S. President Trump announced his nomination of Kevin Warsh, a former Morgan Stanley banker and Federal Reserve governor, to lead the U.S. central bank. "Kevin Warsh will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best," Trump said.
Warsh is viewed as the most hawkish among the finalists for the post, raising investor expectations that the Federal Reserve may tighten policy more aggressively. His nomination also helped ease prior concerns about the Fed’s independence, which had come under scrutiny after Trump’s criticism of current Chair Jerome Powell’s resistance to rapid rate cuts.
Crude prices tumbled as hopes rose for de-escalation in U.S.–Iran tensions. Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) both declined more than 5.5%, falling to $65.65 and $61.60 per barrel, respectively.
The pullback came after Trump said he was “hopeful” about reaching an agreement with Tehran, easing supply fears. Responding to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s warning that any U.S. attack would provoke a broad regional conflict, Trump told reporters: "Of course he is going to say that. Hopefully we’ll make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, then we’ll find out whether or not he was right."
On the cryptocurrency front, Bitcoin fell below $75,000 for the first time since early April 2025, extending its downward trend. Ethereum dropped 8% to $2,221.21, while XRP declined 5% to $1.57 and Solana slid 4.5% to $100.36.
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