Key Facts
What the world’s markets decided. Last week’s relief rally grew into a full global advance, and this time the rest of the world led — Japan’s Nikkei jumped +4.91% to a record above 69,000, South Korea’s KOSPI hit a record +5.50%, and Indonesia rose +5.03% in live Monday trading. Wall Street, by contrast, managed only modest gains on Friday (S&P 500 +0.50%).
The shift underneath. The leadership passed from the United States to everyone else — Europe surged on Friday (Spain +2.46%, the Euro Stoxx 50 +2.16%) and the dollar eased (the euro +0.42%, the Australian dollar +0.55%), the classic sign of money flowing out of the US into international markets.
What is driving Asia. Records in Japan and Korea came from several tailwinds at once — the Iran-Israel ceasefire holding, strong South Korean chip-export data, and an expected Bank of Japan rate move that eases pressure on the yen. Chipmakers remained the engine of the global advance.
The clues in the wider scan. Two familiar signals persisted — oil kept sliding (US crude −2.64%) as the war premium drained further, and crypto still would not join, with Bitcoin stuck near 65,700 even as stock records piled up. Both are worth watching into a big week.
