Recently, I’ve been observing some interesting signals in the market. The US January PPI data was released, showing a month-over-month increase of 0.5%, exceeding expectations and marking the largest rise since September last year, reigniting inflation concerns. At the same time, tensions in the Middle East are escalating, with slow progress in US-Iran negotiations, and Trump warning of possible military action, causing investors to worry that the “powder keg” might be ignited.

Influenced by these two factors, the market reacted quite violently. WTI crude oil surged nearly 3%, hitting a new seven-month high; gold broke through $5,200, reaching as high as $5,279. But interestingly, the 10-year US Treasury yield fell below 4% to 3.94%, hitting a four-month low, indicating that investors are still somewhat concerned about the economic outlook.

The stock market was under pressure across the board, with the Dow down 1.05%, the S&P down 0.43%, and the Nasdaq down 0.92%. The financial sector was hit hard, with the US banking index falling 4.85% to a new low, and major banks like Goldman Sachs and Jefferies dropping over 7%. The crypto market wasn’t doing much better, with Bitcoin down 2.4% to $77,730, and Ethereum down 4.85% to $2,320.

However, there are some bright spots. OpenAI just completed a $110 billion funding round, with Amazon, NVIDIA, and SoftBank teaming up to invest; Dell Technologies rose 21%, expecting AI server revenue to double this year. It seems the AI boom is still burning, but the market is currently a bit unclear about the direction.