🔥 Market Shock: Hawkish Fed Nominee Sinks Stocks & Metals | Monday, Feb 2, 2026

A whirlwind Monday saw markets swiftly repricing risk following a major policy surprise and renewed inflation worries. Here’s the breakdown:

🏛️ Policy & Macro Shockwaves

• Fed Chair Bombshell: President Trump nominated former governor Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair, a known hawk skeptical of post-2008 monetary policy. Markets immediately priced in a more aggressive anti-inflation stance.
• Inflation Data Adds Fuel: The U.S. PPI inflation reading unexpectedly rose, compounding fears and validating the hawkish shift.
• Government Funding Drama: While the Senate passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill, a brief government shutdown is deemed unavoidable before operations resume, likely by Tuesday.

📉 Market Reaction: Flight to Safety

• Dollar Soars, Metals & Bitcoin Crash: The hawkish pivot triggered a massive surge in the U.S. Dollar (largest daily gain since May '25). As a consequence, precious metals plunged and Bitcoin fell below $80,000 over the weekend, as higher rates diminish the appeal of non-yielding assets.
• Equities Sell Off: U.S. stocks fell under the weight of higher-for-longer rate expectations.

🗓️ The Week Ahead: Data & Earnings Focus

• Jobs Report Friday: All eyes turn to the U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls data on Feb 6, which will be critical in shaping the new Fed's reaction function.
• Earnings Week Continues: A packed lineup includes:
  • Today (Feb 2): $Palantir Tech(PLTR.US), $Disney(DIS.US), $NXP Semiconductors(NXPI.US), $Teradyne(TER.US)
  • Tue (Feb 3): $Pfizer(PFE.US), $AMD(AMD.US), $Super Micro Computer(SMCI.US), $Lumentum(LITE.US), $Paypal(PYPL.US), $PepsiCo(PEP.US)
  • Wed (Feb 4): $Alphabet(GOOGL.US), $Qualcomm(QCOM.US), $Arm(ARM.US), $Novo Nordisk AS(NVO.US), $Eli Lilly(LLY.US), $Uber Tech(UBER.US)
  • Thu (Feb 5): $Strategy(MSTR.US), $Amazon(AMZN.US), $IREN(IREN.US), $Shell(SHEL.US), $Linde(LIN.US)
  • Fri (Feb 6): $Toyota Motor(TM.US), $Centene(CNC.US), $Phillip Morris(PM.US)
• IPO Watch: New listings this week include Lanqi Technology, Dongpeng Beverage, and Muyuan Foods.

📊 Recent Earnings Follow-Up

• $Apple(AAPL.US) closed up +0.46% post-earnings.
• $Sandisk(SNDK.US) saw volatile trading, gapping up +21% at one point before closing +7% on Friday, showing continued momentum in the storage sector.

🎁 Comment & Earn!

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