U.S. markets veered mostly lower Wednesday, following record rallies on Wall Street a day earlier as investors’ attention turned to global interest rates and uncertainty caused by developments in Venezuela.
Futures for the S&P 500 ticked down less than 0.1% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged up 0.1%. Nasdaq futures retreated 0.2%. Both the Dow and S&P closed at record highs on Tuesday.
“Global uncertainty continues to deepen,” Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank in Singapore said in a commentary, citing the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces in a weekend raid.
The rally spurred by buying of technology shares may have run its course, analysts said.
“Tech appetite is weaker in Asia,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote, said in a report. “It increasingly feels like good news is no longer generating the same euphoria seen over the past three years. The tech rally is showing signs of fatigue, supporting rotation trades — a trend further reinforced by geopolitical headlines.”
In corporate news Wednesday, Warner Bros. again rejected Paramount’s latest takeover bid and told shareholders to stick with a rival offer from Netflix. Shares in all three companies were stagnant on the news, which wasn’t unexpected.
Warner’s leadership has repeatedly rebuffed Skydance-owned Paramount’s overtures — and urged shareholders just weeks ago to support selling its streaming and studio business to Netflix for $72 billion. Paramount, meanwhile, has made efforts to sweeten its $77.9 billion hostile bid for the entire company.
A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Tokyo. Credit: AP/Eugene Hoshiko
This week will bring reports on the U.S. jobs market, including an update on job openings Wednesday followed by the more comprehensive December jobs report on Friday.
The U.S. Federal Reserve will be analyzing such data for its meeting later this month, when it’s broadly expected that officials will leave the central bank’s benchmark lending rate where it is. The Fed cut its benchmark interest rate three times late in 2025, largely out of concern that the U.S. labor market was showing signs of weakness.
Cutting rates further is complicated by the fact that inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target. While rate cuts can give the economy and labor market a boost, it can also exacerbate inflation.
In other trading early Wednesday, the price of benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 9 cents to $57.04 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 8 cents to $60.78 per barrel.
People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s stock prices at a securities firm Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Tokyo. Credit: AP/Eugene Hoshiko
Elsewhere, at midday in Europe, France’s CAC 40 shed 0.2%, while the DAX in Germany gained 0.5%. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.6%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.1% to finish at 51,961.98, a day after setting a record.
China late Tuesday banned exports to Japan of goods that might be used for military purposes as relations between the two countries continued to falter.
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in early November that its military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its sovereign territory. Last week, China staged military drills around Taiwan.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6% to 4,551.06.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 8,695.60.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.9% to 26,458.95, while the Shanghai Composite added less than 0.1% to 4,085.77.
The price of gold fell 0.8%, while silver gave up 2.4%.